The Case-book Sherlock Holmes Ed. 1st

THE CASE-BOOK OF
SHERLOCK HOLMES

BY SIR ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE

LONDON

§ JOHN MURRAY, ALBEMARLE STREET, W.

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June 1937
February 2939

• March 1939
March 2929

April 2929
. February 1930
March 2932
January 2933
October 2934
April 1935
. February 1938
. November 1938
. October 1941
. January 1948

• January 1930

. May 1932

Printed in Great Britain by

Wyman & Sons, Ltd., London , Fakenham and Reading
and published by John Murray { Publishers ) Ltd.

PREFACE

I FEAR that Mr. Sherlock Holmes may become
like one of those popular tenors who, having
outlived their time, are still tempted to make re-
peated farewell bows to their indulgent audiences.
This must cease and he must go the way of all flesh,
material or imaginary. One likes to think that
there is some fantastic limbo for the children of
imagination, some strange, impossible place where
the beaux of Fielding may still make love to the
belles of Richardson, where Scott’s heroes still may
strut, Dickens's delightful Cockneys still raise a
laugh, and Thackeray’s worldlings continue to carry
on their reprehensible careers. Perhaps in some
humble comer of such a Valhalla, Sherlock and his
Watson may for a time find a place, while some more
astute sleuth with some even less astute comrade
may fill the stage which they have vacated.

His career has been a long one — though it is
possible to exaggerate it ; decrepit gentlemen who
approach me and declare that his adventures formed
the reading of their boyhood do not meet the response
from me which they seem to expect. One is not
anxious to have one’s personal dates handled so un-
kindly. As a matter of cold fact Holmes made his
dibut in A Study in Scarlet and in The Sign of Four,

5

6

PREFACE

two small booklets which appeared between 1887 and
1889. It was in 1891 that " A Scandal in Bohemia,”
the first of the long series of short stories, appeared
in The Strand Magazine. The public seemed appre-
ciative and desirous of more, so that from that date,
thirty-six years ago, they have been produced in a
broken series which now contains no fewer than
fifty-six stories, republished in The Adventures, The
Memoirs, The Return, and His Last Bow, and there
remain these twelve published during the last few
years which are here produced under the title of
The Case-Book of Sherlock Holmes. He began his
adventures in the very heart of the later Victorian
Era, carried it through the all-too-short reign of
Edward, and has managed to hold his own little
niche even in these feverish days. Thus it would be
true to say that those who first read of him as young
men have lived to see their own grown-up children
following the same adventures in the same magazine.
It is a striking example of the patience and loyalty
of the British public.

I had fully determined at the conclusion of The
Memoirs to bring Holmes to an end, as I felt that
my literary energies should not be directed too much
into one channel. That pale, clear-cut face and
loose-limbed figure were taking up an undue share
of my imagination. I did the deed, but, fortunately,
no coroner had pronounced upon the remains, and
so, after a long interval, it was not difficult for me to
respond to the flattering demand and to explain my
rash act away. I have never regretted it, for I have
not in actual practice found that these lighter
sketches have prevented me from exploring and

PREFACE

7

finding my limitations in such varied branches of
literature as history, poetry, historical novels,
psychic research, and the drama. Had Holmes
never existed I could not have done more, though
he may perhaps have stood a little in the way of the
recognition of my more serious literary work.

And so, reader, farewell to Sherlock Holmes I
I thank you for your past constancy, and can but
hope that some return has been made in the shape
of that distraction from the worries of life and
stimulating change of thought which can only be
found in the fairy kingdom of romance.

Arthur Conan Doyle.

CONTENTS

PAGE

I The Adventure of the Illustrious Client zi
II The Adventure of the Blanched Soldier 47

III The Adventure of the Mazarin Stone . 75

IV The Adventure of the Three Gables . 98

V The Adventure of the Sussex Vampire . 122

VI The Adventure of the Three Garridebs. 145

VII The Problem of Thor Bridge . , .168

VIII The Adventure of the Creeping Man , 203

IX The Adventure of the Lion’s Mane • 232
X The Adventure of the Veiled Lodger . 259
XI The Adventure of Shoscombe Old Place 275
XII The Adventure of the Retired Colourman 299

I

THE ADVENTURE OF THE ILLUSTRIOUS
CLIENT

" TT can’t hurt now,” was Mr. Sherlock Holmes’s

X comment when, for the tenth time in as many
years, I asked his leave to reveal the following
narrative. So it was that at last I obtained per-
mission to put on record what was, in some ways,
the supreme moment of my friend’s career.

Both Holmes and I had a weakness for the Turk-
ish Bath. It was over a smoke in the pleasant
lassitude of the drying-room that I have found him
less reticent and more human than anywhere else.
On the upper floor of the Northumberland Avenue
establishment there is an isolated corner where two
couches lie side by side, and it was on these that we
lay upon September 3, 1902, the day when my nar-
rative begins. I had asked him whether anything
was stirring, and for answer he had shot his long,
thin, nervous arm out of the sheets which enveloped
him and had drawn an envelope from the inside
pocket of the coat which hung beside him.

“ It may be some fussy, self-important fool, it
may be a matter of life or death,” said he, as he
handed me this note. “ I know no more than this
message tells me.”

11

it CASE-BOOK OF SHERLOCK HOLIES

It was from the Carlton Club, and dated the
evening before. This is what I read :

“ Sir James Damery presents his compliments to
Mr . Sherlock Holmes, and will call upon him at 4.30
to-morrow. Sir James begs to say that the matter
upon which he desires to consult Mr. Holmes is very
delicate, and also very important. He trusts, there-
fore, that Mr. Holmes will make every effort to grant
this interview, and that he will confirm it over the
telephone to the Carlton Club.”

" I need not say that I have confirmed it, Wat-
son,” said Holmes, as I returned the paper. “ Do
you know anything of this man Damery ? ”

“ Only that his name is a household word in
Society.”

“ Well, I can tell you a little more than that. He
has rather a reputation for arranging delicate mat-
ters which are to be kept out of the papers. You
may remember his negotiations with Sir George
Lewis over the Hammerford Will case. He is a
man of the world with a natural turn for diplomacy.
I am bound, therefore, to hope that it is not a false
scent and that he has some real need for our assist-
ance.”

" Our ? ”

“Well, if you will be so good, Watson.”

” I shall be honoured.”

"Then you have the hour — four-thirty. Until
then we can put the matter out of our heads.”

I was living in my own rooms in Queen Anne
Street at the time, but I was round at Baker Street

THE ILLUSTRIOUS CLIENT 13

before the time named. Sharp to the half-hour,
Colonel Sir James Dameiy was announced. It is
hardly necessary to describe him, for many will
remember that large, bluff, honest personality, that
broad, clean-shaven face, above all, that pleasant,
mellow voice. Frankness shone from his grey Irish
eyes, and good humour played round his mobile,
smiling lips. His lucent top-hat, his dark frock-
coat, indeed, every detail, from the pearl pin in the
black satin cravat to the lavender spats over the
varnished shoes, spoke of the meticulous care in
dress for which he was famous. The big, masterful
aristocrat dominated the little room.

" Of course, I was prepared to find Dr. Watson,”
he remarked, with a courteous bow. “ His collabora-
tion may be very necessary, for we are dealing on
this occasion, Mr. Holmes, with a man to whom
violence is familiar and who will, literally, stick at
nothing. I should say that there is no more danger-
ous man in Europe.”

" I have had several opponents to whom that flat-
tering term has been applied,” said Holmes, with a
smile. " Don’t you smoke ? Then you will excuse
me if I light my pipe. If your man is more danger-
ous than the late Professor Moriarty, or than the
living Colonel Sebastian Moran, then he is indeed
worth meeting. May I ask his name ? ”

“ Have you ever heard of Baron Gruner ? ”

" You mean the Austrian murderer ? ”

Colonel Damery threw up his kid-gloved hands
with a laugh. “ There is no getting past you, Mr.
Holmes ! Wonderful 1 So you have already sized
him up as a murderer ? ”

14 CASE-BOOK OF SHERLOCK HOLMES

*• It is my business to follow the details of Con-
tinental crime. Who could possibly have read
what happened at Prague and have any doubts as
to the man's guilt I It was a purely technical legal
point and the suspicious death of a witness that
saved him I t am as sure that he killed his wife
when the so-called ‘ accident ’ happened in the
Spliigen Pass as if I had seen him do it. I knew,
also, that he had come to England, and had a pre-
sentiment that sooner or later he would find me some
work to do. Well, what has Baron Gruner been up
to ? I presume it is not this old tragedy which has
come up again ? ”

“ No, it is more serious than that. To revenge
crime is important, but to prevent it is more so. It
is a terrible thing, Mr. Holmes, to see a dreadful
event, an atrocious situation, preparing itself
before your eyes, to clearly understand whither it
will lead and yet to be utterly unable to avert it.
Can a human being be placed in a more trying
position ? "

“ Perhaps not.”

“Then you will sympathize with the client in
whose interests I am acting.”

“ I did not understand that you were merely an
intermediary. Who is the principal ? ”

“ Mr. Holmes, I must beg you not to press that
question. It is important that I should be able to
assure him that his honoured name has been in no
way dragged into the matter. His motives are, to
the last degree, honourable and chivalrous, but he
prefers to remain unknown. I need not say that
your fees will be assured and that ymi will be given

THE ILLUSTRIOUS CLIENT 15

a perfectly free hand. Surely the actual name of
your client is immaterial ? ”

“ I am sorry," said Holmes. “ I am accustomed
to have mystery at one end of my cases, but to have
it at both ends is too confusing. I fear. Sir James,
that I must decline to act."

Our visitor was greatly disturbed. His large,
sensitive face was darkened with emotion and dis-
appointment.

“ You hardly realize the effect of your own action,
Mr. Holmes," said he. " You place me in a most
serious dilemma, for I am perfectly certain that you
would be proud to take over the case if I could give
you the facts, and yet a promise forbids me from
revealing them all. May I, at least, lay all that I
can before you ? "

“ By all means, so long as it is understood that I
commit myself to nothing.”

" That is understood. Tn the first place, you have
no doubt heard of General de Merville ? ”

“ De Merville of Khyber fame ? Yes, I have
heard of him.”

" He has a daughter, Violet de Merville, young,
rich, beautiful, accomplished, a wonder-woman in
every way. It is this daughter, this lovely, innocent
girl, whom we are endeavouring to save from the
clutches of a fiend.”

“ Baron Gruner has some hold over her, then ? ”

'* The strongest of all holds where a woman is con-
cerned — the hold of love. The fellow is, as you
may have heard, extraordinarily handsome, with a
most fascinating manner, a gentle voice, and that
air of romance and mystery which means so much to

i6 CASE-BOOK OF SHERLOCK HOLMES

a woman. He is said to have the whole sex at his
mercy and to have made ample use of the fact.”

" But how came such a man to meet a lady of the
standing of Miss Violet de Merville ? ”

“ It was on a Mediterranean yachting voyage.
The company, though select, paid their own passages.
No doubt the promoters hardly realized the Baron's
true character until it was too late. The villain
attached himself to the lady, and with such effect
that he has completely and absolutely won her
heart. To say that she loves him hardly expresses
it. She dotes upon him, she is obsessed by him.
Outside of him there is nothing on earth. She will
not hear one word against him. Everything has
been done to cure her of her madness, but in v ain ,
To sum up, she proposes to marry him next month.
As she is of age and has a will of iron, it is hard to
know how to prevent her.”

" Does she know about the Austrian episode ? ”

“ The cunning devil has told her every unsavoury
public scandal of his past life, but always in such a
way as to make himself out to be an innocent martyr.
She absolutely accepts his version and will listen to
no other.”

“ Dear me 1 But surely you have inadvertently
let out the name of your client ? It is no doubt
General de Merville.”

Our visitor fidgeted in his chair.

“I could deceive you by saying so, Mr. Holmes,
but it would not be true. De Merville is a broken
man. The strong soldier has been utterly demoral-
ized by this incident. He has lost the nerve which
never failed him on the battlefield and has become

THE ILLUSTRIOUS CLIENT 17

a weak, doddering old man, utterly incapable of
contending with a brilliant, forceful rascal like this
Austrian. My client, however, is an old friend, one
who has known the General intimately for many
years and taken a paternal interest in this young
girl since she wore short frocks. He cannot see this
tragedy consummated without some attempt to
stop it. There is nothing in which Scotland Yard
can act. It was his own suggestion that you should
be called in, but it was, as I have said, on the express
stipulation that he should not be personally involved
in the matter. I have no doubt, Mr. Holmes, with
your great powers you could easily trace my client
back through me, but I must ask you, as a point of
honour, to refrain from doing so, and not to break
in upon his incognito.”

Holmes gave a whimsical smile.

“ I think I may safely promise that,” said he.
" I may add that your problem interests me, and
that I shall be prepared to look into it. How shall
I keep in touch with you ? ”

“ The Carlton Club will find me. But, in case
of emergency, there is a private telephone call,
'XX.31.'”

Holmes noted it down and sat, still smiling, with
the open memorandum-book upon his knee.

" The Baron’s present address, please ? ”

” Vernon Lodge, near Kingston. It is a large
house. He has been fortunate in some rather shady
speculations and is a rich man, which, naturally,
makes him a more dangerous antagonist.”

" Is he at home at present ? ”

" Yes.”

18 CASE-BOOK OF SHERLOCK HOLMES

“ Apart from what you have told me, can you give
me any further information about the man ? "

“ He has expensive tastes. He is a horse fancier.
For a short time he played polo at Hurlingham, but
then this Prague affair got noised about and he had
to leave. He collects books and pictures. He is a
man with a considerable artistic side to his nature.
He is, I believe, a recognized authority upon Chinese
pottery, and has written a book upon the subject.'’

" A complex mind,” said Holmes. " All great
criminals have that. My old friend Charlie Peace
was a violin virtuoso. Wainwright was no mean
artist. I could quote many more. Well, Sir James,
you will inform your client that I am turning my
mind upon Baron Gruner. I can say no more. I
have some sources of information of my own, and I
dare say we may find some means of opening the
matter up.”

When our visitor had left us, Holmes sat so long
in deep thought that it seemed to me that he had
forgotten my presence. At last, however, he came
briskly back to earth.

” Well, Watson, any views ? ” he asked.

" I should think you had better see the young
lady herself.”

“ My dear Watson, if her poor old broken father
cannot move her, how shall I, a stranger, prevail ?
And yet there is something in the suggestion if all
else fails. But I think we must begin from a differ-
ent angle. I rather fancy that Shinwell Johnson
might be a help.”

I have not had occasion to mention Shinwell

THE ILLUSTRIOUS CLIENT 19

Johnson in these memoirs because I have seldom
drawn my cases from the latter phases of my friend’s
career. During the first years of the century he
became a valuable assistant. Johnson, I grieve to
say, made his name first as a very dangerous villain
and served two terms at Parkhurst. Finally, he
repented and allied himself to Holmes, acting as his
agent in the huge criminal underworld of London,
and obtaining information which often proved to be
of vital importance. Had Johnson been a “ nark "
of the police he would soon have been exposed, but as
he dealt with cases which never came directly into
the courts, his activities were never realized by his
companions. With the glamour of his two con-
victions upon him, he had the entrie of every night-
club, doss-house, and gambling-den in the town, and
his quick observation and active brain made him
an ideal agent for gaining information. It was to
him that Sherlock Holmes now proposed to turn.

It was not possible for me to follow the immediate
steps taken by my friend, for I had some pressing
professional business of my own, but I met him by
appointment that evening at Simpson’s, where,
sitting at a small table in the front window, and
looking down at the rushing stream of life in the
Strand, he told me something of what had passed.

“ Johnson is on the prowl,” said he. '* He may
pick up some garbage in the darker recesses of the
underworld, for it is down there, amid the black roots
of crime, that we must hunt for this man’s secrets.”

" But, if the lady will not accept what is already
known, why should any fresh discovery of yours
turn her from her purpose ? ”

20 CASE-BOOK OF SHERLOCK HOLMES

“Who knows, Watson? Woman’s heart and
mind are insoluble puzzles to the male. Murder
might be condoned or explained, and yet some
smaller offence might rankle. Baron Gruner re-
marked to me ”

“ He remarked to you ! ”

" Oh, to be sure, I had not told you of my plans I
Well, Watson, I love to come to close grips with my
man. I like to meet him eye to eye and read for
myself the stuff that he is made of. When I had
given Johnson his instructions, I took a cab out to
Kingston and found the Baron in a most affable
mood.”

“ Did he recognize you ? "

“ There was no difficulty about that, for I simply
sent in my card. He is an excellent antagonist,
cool as ice, silky voiced and soothing as one of your
fashionable consultants, and poisonous as a cobra.
He has breed in him, a real aristocrat of crime, with
a superficial suggestion of afternoon tea and all the
cruelty of the grave behind it. Yes, I am glad to
have had my attention called to Baron Adelbert
Gruner.”

“ You say he was affable ? ”

“ A purring cat who thinks he sees prospective
mice. Some people’s affability is more deadly than
the violence of coarser souls. His greeting was
characteristic. ‘ I rather thought I should see you
sooner or later, Mr. Holmes,’ said he. ‘ You have
been engaged, no doubt, by General de Merville to
endeavour to stop my marriage with his daughter,
Violet. That is so, is it not ? '

“ I acquiesced.

THE ILLUSTRIOUS CLIENT ai

“ * My dear man,' said he, * you will only ruin
your own well-deserved reputation. It is not a case
in which you can possibly succeed. You will have
barren work, to say nothing of incurring some dan-
ger. Let me very strongly advise you to draw off
at once.'

" ‘ It is curious,’ I answered, * but that was the
very advice which I had intended to give you. I
have a respect for your brains, Baron, and the little
which I have seen of your personality has not
lessened it. Let me put it to you as man to man.
No one wants to rake up your past and make you
unduly uncomfortable. It is over, and you are now
in smooth waters, but if you persist in this marriage
you will raise up a swarm of powerful enemies who
will never leave you alone until they have made
England too hot to hold you. Is the game worth
it ? Surely you would be wiser if you left the lady
alone. It would not be pleasant for you if these
facts of your past were brought to her notice.'

" The Baron has little waxed tips of hair under
his nose, like the short antennae of an insect. These
quivered with amusement as he listened, and he
finally broke into a gentle chuckle.

" ' Excuse my amusement, Mr. Holmes,' said he,
‘ but it is really funny to see you trying to play
a hand with no cards in it. I don’t think any-
one could do it better, but it is rather pathetic, all
the same. Not a colour card there, Mr. Holmes,
nothing but the smallest of the small.'

“ ‘ So you think.’

" ' So I know. Let me make the thing clear to
you, for my own hand is so strong that I can afford

S3 CASE-BOOK OF SHERLOCK HOLMES

to show it. I have been fortunate enough to win the
entire affection of this lady. This was given to me
in spite of the fact that I told her very clearly of all
the unhappy incidents in my past life. I also told
her that certain wicked and designing persons — I
hope you recognize yourself — would come to her and
tell her these things, and I warned her how to treat
them. You have heard of post-hypnotic suggestion,
Mr. Holmes ? Well, you will see how it works, for
a man of personality can use hypnotism without any
vulgar passes or tomfoolery. So she is ready for
you and, I have no doubt, would give you an ap-
pointment, for she is quite amenable to her father’s
will — save only in the one little matter.'

“ Well, Watson, there seemed to be no more to
say, so I took my leave with as much cold dignity as
I could summon, but, as I had my hand on the
door-handle, he stopped me.

“ ' By the way, Mr. Holmes/ said he, ' did you
know Le Brun, the French agent ? ’

" ‘ Yes,’ said I.

" ' Do you know what befell him ? '

“ * I heard that he was beaten by some Apaches
in the Montmartre district and crippled for life.’

" ‘ Quite true, Mr. Holmes. By a curious coin-
cidence he had been inquiring into my affairs only a ,
week before. Don’t do it, Mr. Holmes ; it’s not a
lucky thing to do. Several have found that out.
My last word to you is, go your own way and let me
go mine. Good-bye 1 ’

" So there you are, Watson. You are up to date
now.”

" The fellow seems dangerous.”

THE ILLUSTRIOUS CLIENT

*3

“ Mighty dangerous. I disregard the blusterer,
but this is the sort of man who says rather less than
he means.” t

“ Must you interfere ? Does it really matter if
he marries the girl ? ”

" Considering that he undoubtedly murdered his
last wife, I should say it mattered very much. Be-
sides, the client I Well, well, we need not discuss
that. When you have finished your coffee you had
best come home with me, for the blithe Shinwell will
be there with his report.”

We found him sure enough, a huge, coarse, red-
faced, scorbutic man, with a pair of vivid black eyes
which were the only external sign of the very cun-
ning mind within. It seems that he had dived down
into what was peculiarly his kingdom, and beside
him on the settee was a brand which he had brought
up in the shape of a slim, flame-like young woman
with a pale, intense face, youthful, and yet so worn
with sin and sorrow that one read the terrible years
which had left their leprous mark upon her.

” This is Miss Kitty Winter,” said Shinwell John-
son, waving his fat hand as an introduction. ” What
she don’t know — well, there, she’ll speak for herself.
Put my hand right on her, Mr. Holmes, within an
hour of your message.”

** I’m easy to find,” said the young woman.
" Hell, London, gets me every time. Same address
for Porky Shinwell. We’re old mates, Porky, you
and I. But, by Cripes 1 there is another who ought
to be down in a lower hell than we if there was any
justice in the world! That is the man you are
after, Mr. Holmes.”

24 CASE-BOOK OF SHERLOCK HOLMES

Holmes smiled. " I gather we have your good
wishes, Miss Winter."

" If I can help to put him where he belongs, I'm
yours to the rattle,” said our visitor, with fierce
energy. There was an intensity of hatred in her
white, set face and her blazing eyes such as woman
seldom and man never can attain. “ You needn’t
go into my past, Mr. Holmes. That’s neither here
nor there. But what I am Adelbert Gruner made
me. If I could pull him down 1 ” She clutched
frantically with her hands into the air. “ Oh, if I
could only pull him into the pit where he has pushed
so many ! ”

" You know how the matter stands ? ”

" Porky Shinwell has been telling me. He's after
some other poor fool and wants to marry her this
time. You want to stop it. Well, you surely know
enough about this devil to prevent any decent girl
in her senses wanting to be in the same parish with
him.”

" She is not in her senses. She is madly in love.
She has been told all about him. She cares noth-
ing.”

” Told about the murder ? ”

" Yes.”

" My Lord, she must have a nerve ! ”

*' She puts them all down as slanders.**

" Couldn’t you lay proofs before her silly eyes ? ’’
*' Well, can you help us do so ? ”

“ Ain’t I a proof myself ? If I stood before her

and told her how he used me ”

*' Would you do this ? "

" Would I ? Would I not 1 '*

THE ILLUSTRIOUS CLIENT 25

" Well, it might be worth trying. But he has told
her most of his sins and had pardon from her, and I
understand she will not reopen the question.”

" I’ll lay he didn’t tell her all,” said Miss Winter.
" I caught a glimpse of one or two murders besides
the one that made such a fuss. He would speak of
someone in his velvet way and then look at me with a
steady eye and say : ' He died within a month.’ It
wasn’t hot air, either. But I took little notice —
you see, I loved him myself at that time. Whatever
he did went with me, same as with this poor fool 1
There was just one thing that shook me. Yes, by
Cripes ! if it had not been for his poisonous, lying
tongue that explains and soothes, I’d have left him
that very night. It’s a book he has — a brown
leather book with a lock, and his arms in gold on the
outside. I think he was a bit drunk that night, or
he would not have shown it to me.”

“ What was it, then ? ”

“ I tell you, Mr. Holmes, this man collects women,
and takes a pride in his collection, as some men
collect moths or butterflies. He had it all in that
book. Snapshot photographs, names, details, every-
thing about them. It was a beastly book — a book
no man, even if he had come from the gutter, could
have put together. But it was Adelbert Gnmer's
book all the same. ‘ Souls I have ruined.' He could
have put that on the outside if he had been so
minded. However, that’s neither here nor there,
for the book would not serve you, and, if it would,
you can’t get it.”

“ Where is it ? ”

“ How can I tell you where it is now ? It's more

26 CASE-BOOK OF SHERLOCK HOLMES

t ft?n a year since I left him. I know where he kept
it then. He’s a precise, tidy cat of a man in many
of his ways, so maybe it is still in the pigeon-hole of
the old bureau in the inner study. Do you know his
house ? "

“ I've been in the study," said Holmes.

“ Have you, though ? You haven’t been slow on
the job if you only started this morning. Maybe
dear Adelbert has met his match this time. The
outer study is the one with the Chinese crockery in
it — big glass cupboard between the windows. Then
behind his desk is the door that leads to the inner
study — a small room where he keeps papers and
things."

“ Is he not afraid of burglars ? "

“ Adelbert is no coward. His worst enemy
couldn’t say that of him. He can look after himself.
There’s a burglar alarm at night. Besides, what is
there for a burglar — unless they got away with all
this fancy crockery ? ”

** No good," said Shinwell Johnson, with the
decided voice of the expert. " No fence wants stuff
of that sort that you can neither m$lt nor sell.”

" Quite so,” said Holmes. “ Well, now. Miss
Winter, if you would call here to-morrow evening
at five, I would consider in the meanwhile whether
your suggestion of seeing this lady personally may
not be arranged. I am exceedingly obliged to you
for your co-operation. I need not say that my
clients will consider liberally "

“ None of that, Mr. Holmes,” cried the young
woman. *' I am not out for money. Let me see
this man in the mud, and I’ve got all I worked for-—

THE ILLUSTRIOUS CLIENT vj

in the mud with my foot on his cursed face. That's
my price. I’m with you to-morrow or any other
day so long as you are on his track. Porky here can
tell you always where to find me."

I did not see Holmes again until the following
evening, when we dined once more at our Strand
restaurant. He shrugged his shoulders when I
asked him what luck he had had in his interview.
Then he told the story, which I would repeat in this
way. His hard, dry statement needs some little
editing to soften it into the terms of real life.

" There was no difficulty at all about the appoint-
ment," said Holmes, " for the girl glories in showing
abject filial obedience in all secondary things in an
attempt to atone for her flagrant breach of it in her
engagement. The General ’phoned that all was
ready, and the fiery Miss W. turned up according to
schedule, so that at half-past five a cab deposited us
outside 104 Berkeley Square, where the old soldier
resides — one of those awful grey London castles
which would make a church seem frivolous. A foot-
man showed us into a great yellow-curtained draw-
ing-room, and there was the lady awaiting us,
demure, pale, self-contained, as inflexible and remote
as a snow image on a mountain.

" I don’t quite know how to make her clear to
you, Watson. Perhaps you may meet her before
we are through, and you can use your own gift of
words. She is beautiful, but with the ethereal
other-world beauty of some fanatic whose thoughts
are set on high. I have seen such faces in the pictures
of the old masters of the Middle Ages. How a beast-

28 CASE-BOOK OF SHERLOCK HOLMES

fpa« could have laid his vile paws upon such a being
of the beyond I cannot imagine. You may have
noticed how extremes call to each other, the spiritual
to the animal, the cave-man to the angel. You
never saw a worse case than this.

" She knew what we had come for, of course —
that villain had lost no time in poisoning her mind
against us. Miss Winter’s advent rather amazed
her, I think , but she waved us into our respective
chairs like a Reverend Abbess receiving two rather
leprous mendicants. If your head is inclined to
swell, my dear Watson, take a course of Miss Violet
de Merville.

“ * Well, sir,’ said she, in a voice like the wind
from an iceberg, ‘ your name is familiar to me.
You have called, as I understand, to malign my
fianc£, Baron Gruner. It is only by my father's
request that I see you at all, and I warn you in
advance that anything you can say could not pos-
sibly have the slightest effect upon my mind.'

“ I was sorry for her, Watson. I thought of her
for the moment as I would have thought of a daugh-
ter of my own. I am not often eloquent. I use
my head, not my heart. But I really did plead with
her with all the warmth of words that I could find in
my nature. I pictured to her the awful position of
the woman who only wakes to a man’s character
after she is his wife — a woman who has to submit to
be caressed by bloody hands and lecherous lips. I
spared her nothing — the shame, the fear, the agony,
the hopelessness of it all. All my hot words could
not bring one tinge of colour to those ivory cheeks
or one gleam of emotion to those abstracted eyes. I

THE ILLUSTRIOUS CLIENT 89

thought of what the rascal had said about a post-
hypnotic influence. One could really believe that
she was living above the earth in some ecstatic
dream. Yet there was nothing indefinite in her
replies.

“ * I have listened to you with patience, Mr.
Holmes,’ said she. 'The effect upon my mind is
exactly as predicted. I am aware that Adelbert,
that my fianc6, has had a stormy life in which he has
incurred bitter hatreds and most unjust aspersions.
You are only the last of a series who have brought
their slanders before me. Possibly you mean well,
though I learn that you are a paid agent who would
have been equally willing to act for the Baron as
against him. But in any case I wish you to under-
stand once for all that I love him and that he loves
me, and that the opinion of all the world is no more
to me than the twitter of those birds outside the
window. If his noble nature has ever for an instant
fallen, it may be that I have been specially sent to
raise it to its true and lofty level. I am not clear,'
here she turned her eyes upon my companion, ' who
this young lady may be.’

" I was about to answer when the girl broke in
like a whirlwind. If ever you saw flame and ice
face to face, it was those two women.

" * I’ll tell you who I am,’ she cried, springing out
of her chair, her mouth all twisted with passion —
' I am his last mistress. I am one of a hundred that
he has tempted and used and ruined and thrown into
the refuse heap, as he will you also. Your refuse
heap is more likely to be a grave, and maybe that’s
the best. I tell you, you foolish woman, if you

50 CASE-BOOK OF SHERLOCK HOLMES

marry this man he’ll be the death of you. It may
be a broken heart or it may be a broken neck, but
he’ll have you one way or the other. It’s not out of
love for you I’m speaking. I don’t care a tinker's
curse whether you live or die. It’s out of hate for
him and to spite him and to get back on him for what
he did to me. But it’s all the same, and you needn't
Look at me like that, my fine lady, for you may be
lower than I am before you are through with it.’

“ ‘ I should prefer not to discuss such matters,’
said Miss de Merville coldly. ‘ Let me say once for
all that I am aware of three passages in my fiance’s
life in which he became entangled with designing
women, and that I am assured of his hearty repent-
ance for any evil that he may have done.’

" ' Three passages ! ’ screamed my companion.
* You fool 1 You unutterable fool 1 ’

“ * Mr. Holmes, I beg that you will bring this
interview to an end,’ said the icy voice. ' I have
obeyed my father’s wish in seeing you, but I am not
compelled to listen to the ravings of this person.’

“ With an oath Miss Winter darted forward, and
if I had not caught her wrist she would have clutched
this maddening woman by the hair. I dragged her
towards the door, and was lucky to get her back into
the cab without a public scene, for she was beside
herself with rage. In a cold way I felt pretty furious
myself, Watson, for there was something indescrib-
ably annoying in the calm aloofness and supreme
self-complaisance of the woman whom we were trying
to save. So now once again you know exactly how
we stand, and it is clear that I must plan some fresh
opening move, for this gambit won’t work. I'll

THE ILLUSTRIOUS CLIENT 31

keep in touch with you, Watson, for it is more than
likely that you will have your part to play, though
it is just possible that the next move may lie with
them rather than with us.”

And it did. Their blow fell — or his blow rather,
for never could I believe that the lady was privy to
it. I think I could show you the very paving-stone
upon which I stood when my eyes fell upon the
placard, and a pang of horror passed through my
very soul. It was between the " Grand Hotel ”
and Charing Cross Station, where a one-legged news-
vendor displayed his evening papers. The date was
just two days after the last conversation. There,
black upon yellow, was the terrible news-sheet:

MURDEROUS

ATTACK

UPON

SHERLOCK

HOLMES.

I think I stood stunned for some moments. Then
I have a confused recollection of snatching at a
paper, of the remonstrance of the man, whom I had
not paid, and, finally, of standing in the doorway of
a chemist’s shop while I turned up the fateful para-
graph. This was how it ran :

'* We learn with regret that Mr. Sherlock Holmes,

32 CASE-BOOK OF SHERLOCK HOLMES

the well-known private detective, was the vic tim
this morning of a murderous assault which has left
him in a precarious position. There are no exact
details to hand, but the event seems to have occurred
about twelve o’clock in Regent Street, outside the
Cafe Royal. The attack was made by two men
armed with sticks, and Mr. Holmes was beaten about
the head and body, receiving injuries which the
doctors describe as most serious. He was carried
to Charing Cross Hospital, and afterwards insisted
upon being taken to his rooms in Baker Street. The
miscreants who attacked him appear to have been
respectably dressed men, who escaped from the
bystanders by passing through the Cafe Royal and
out into Glasshouse Street behind it. No doubt
they belonged to that criminal fraternity which has
so often had occasion to bewail the activity and
ingenuity of the injured man."

I need not say that my eyes had hardly glanced
over the paragraph before I had sprung into a han-
som and was on my way to Baker Street. I found
Sir Leslie Oakshott, the famous surgeon in the hall
and his brougham waiting at the kerb.

“ No immediate danger," was his report. *' Two
lacerated scalp wounds and some considerable
bruises. Several stitches have been necessary. Mor-
phine has been injected and quiet is essential, but
an interview of a few minutes would not be abso-
lutely forbidden."

With this permission I stole into the darkened
room. The sufferer was wide awake, and I heard
my name in a hoarse whisper. The blind was three-

THE ILLUSTRIOUS CLIENT

33

quarters down, but one ray of sunlight slanted
through and struck the bandaged head of the injured
man. A crimson patch had soaked through the
white linen compress. I sat beside him and bent
my head.

“ All right, Watson. Don’t look so scared," he
muttered in a very weak voice. " It's not as bad
as it seems.”

“ Thank God for that 1 ”

“ I’m a bit of a single-stick expert, as you know.
I took most of them on my guard. It was the second
man that was too much for me."

" What can I do, Holmes ? Of course, it was
that damned fellow who set them on. I’ll go and
thrash the hide off him if you give the word.”

“ Good old Watson I No, we can do nothing
there unless the police lay their hands on the men.
But their get-away had been well prepared. We
may be sure of that. Wait a little. I have my
plans. The first thing is to exaggerate my injuries.
They'll come to you for news. Put it on thick, Wat-
son. Lucky if I live the week out — concussion —
delirium — what you like ! You can’t overdo it.”

“ But Sir Leslie Oakshott ? "

“ Oh, he’s all right. \ He shall see the worst side
of me. I’ll look after that.”

“ Anything else ? ”

" Yes. Tell Shinwell Johnson to get that girl out
of the way. Those beauties will be after her now.
They know, of course, that she was with me in the
case. If they dared to do me in it is not likely they
will neglect her. That is urgent. Do it to-night.”

“ I’ll go now. Anything more ? ”

34 CASE-BOOK OF SHERLOCK HOLMES

" Put my pipe on the table — and the tobacco-
slipper. Right I Come in, each morning and we
will plan our campaign.”

I ar rang ed with Johnson that evening to take Miss
Winter to a quiet suburb and see that she lay low
until the danger was past.

For six days the public were under the impression
that Holmes was at the door of death. The bulletins
were very grave and there were sinister paragraphs
in the papers. My continual visits assured me that
it was not so bad as that. His wiry constitution and
his determined will were working wonders. He was
recovering fast, and I had suspicions at times that
he was really finding himself faster than he pre-
tended, even to me. There was a curious secretive
streak in the man which led to many dramatic effects,
but left even his closest friend guessing as to what
his exact plans might be. He pushed to an extreme
the axiom that the only safe plotter was he who
plotted alone. I was nearer him than anyone
else, and yet I was always conscious of the gap
between.

On the seventh day the stitches were taken out,
in spite of which there was a report of erysipelas in
the evening papers. The same evening papers had
an announcement which I was bound, sick or well,
to carry to my friend. It was simply that among
the passengers on the Cunard boat Ruritania, start-
ing from Liverpool on Friday, was the Baron Adel-
bert Gruner, who had some important financial
business to settle in the States before his impending
wedding to Miss Violet de Merville, only daughter of,
etc., etc. Holmes listened to the news with a cold.

THE ILLUSTRIOUS CLIENT 35

concentrated look upon his pale face, which told me
that it hit him hard.

“ Friday ! " he cried. " Only three clear days.
I believe the rascal wants to put himself out of dan-
ger’s way. But he won't, Watson I By the Lord
Harry, he won’t ! Now, Watson, I want you to do
something for me.”

" I am here to be used. Holmes.”

“ Well, then, spend the next twenty-four hours in
an intensive study of Chinese pottery.”

He gave no explanations and I asked for none.
By long experience I had learned the wisdom of
obedience. But when I had left his room I walked
down Baker Street, revolving in my head how on
earth I was to carry out so strange an order. Finally
I drove to the London Library in St. James’s Square,
put the matter to my friend Lomax, the sub-libra-
rian, and departed to my rooms with a goodly
volume under my arm.

It is said that the barrister who crams up a case
with such care that he can examine an expert witness
upon the Monday has forgotten all his forced know-
ledge before the Saturday. Certainly I should not
like now to pose as an authority upon ceramics.
And yet all that evening, and all that night with a
short interval for rest, and all next morning I was
sucking in knowledge and committing names to
memory. There I learned of the hall-marks of the
great artist-decorators, of the mystery of cyclical
dates, the marks of the Hung-wu and the beauties
of the Yung-lo, the writings of Tang-ying, and the
glories of the primitive period of the Sung and the
Y uan. I was charged with all this information when

36 CASE-BOOK OF SHERLOCK HOLMES

I called upon Holmes next evening. He was out of
bed now, though you would not have guessed it from
the published reports, and he sat with his much-
bandaged head resting upon his hand in the depth
of his favourite arm-chair.

“ Why, Holmes,” I said, “ if one believed the
papers you are dying.”

“ That,” said he, “ is the very impression which I
intended to convey. And now, Watson, have you
learned your lessons ? ”

*' At least I have tried to.”

“ Good. You could keep up an intelligent con-
versation on the subject ? ”

" I believe I could.”

" Then hand me that little box from the mantel-
piece.”

He opened the lid and took out a small object
most carefully wrapped in some fine Eastern silk.
This he unfolded, and disclosed a delicate little
saucer of the most beautiful deep-blue colour.

" It needs careful handling, Watson. This is
the real egg-shell pottery of the Ming dynasty. No
finer piece ever passed through Christie’s. A com-
plete set of this would be worth a king’s ransom — in
fact, it is doubtful if there is a complete set outside
the Imperial palace of Peking. The sight of this
would drive a real connoisseur wild.”

“ What am I to do with it ? ”

Holmes handed me a card upon which was
printed : " Dr. Hill Barton, 369 Half Moon Street.”

" That is your name for the evening, Watson.
You will call upon Baron Gruner. I know some-
thing of his habits, and at half-past eight he would

THE ILLUSTRIOUS CLIENT 37

probably be disengaged. A note will tell him in
advance that you are about to call, and you will say
that you are bringing him a specimen of an absolutely
unique set of Ming china. You may as well be a
medical man, since that is a part which you can play
without duplicity. You are a collector, this set has
come your way, you have heard of the Baron’s in-
terest in the subject, and you are not averse to selling
at a price.”

" What price ? ”

“ Well asked, Watson. You would certainly
fall down badly if you did not know the value of
your own wares. This saucer was got for me by Sir
James, and comes, I understand, from the collection
of his client. You will not exaggerate if you
say that it could hardly be matched in the
world.”

" I could perhaps suggest that the set should be
valued by an expert.”

” Excellent, Watson 1 You scintillate to-day.
Suggest Christie or Sotheby. Your delicacy prevents
your putting a price for yourself.”

” But if he won’t see me ? ”

“ Oh, yes, he will see you. He has the collection
mania in its most acute form — and especially on this
subject, on which he is an acknowledged authority.
Sit down, Watson, and I will dictate the letter. No
answer needed. You will merely say that you are
coming, and why.”

It was an admirable document, short, courteous,
and stimulating to the curiosity of the connoisseur.
A district messenger was duly dispatched with it.
On the same evening, with the precious saucer in my

38 CASE-BOOK OF SHERLOCK HOLMES

hand and the card of Dr. Hill Barton in my pocket,
I set off on my own adventure.

The beautiful house and grounds indicated that
Baron Gruner was, as Sir James had said, a man of
considerable wealth. A long winding drive, with
hanlrg of rare shrubs on either side, opened out into
a great gravelled square adorned with statues. The
place had been built by a South African gold king
in the days of the great boom, and the long, low
house with the turrets at the comers, though an
architectural nightmare, was imposing in its size
and solidity. A butler who would have adorned a
bench of bishops showed me in, and handed me over
to a plush-clad footman, who ushered me into the
Baron’s presence.

He was standing at the open front of a great case
which stood between the windows, and which con-
tained part of his Chinese collection. He turned as
I entered with a small brown vase in his hand.

" Pray sit down, doctor,” said he. “ I was look-
ing over my own treasures and wondering whether
I could really afford to add to them. This little
Tang specimen, which dates from the seventh cen-
tury, would probably interest you. I am sure you
never saw finer workmanship or a richer glaze.
Have you the Ming saucer with you of which you
spoke ? ”

I carefully unpacked it and handed it to him. He
seated himself at his desk, pulled over the lamp, for
it was growing dark, and set himself to examine it.
As he did so the yellow light beat upon his own
features, and I was able to study them at my ease.

THE ILLUSTRIOUS CLIENT 39

He was certainly a remarkably handsome man.
His European reputation for beauty was fully
deserved. In figure he was not more than of middle
size, but was built upon graceful and active lines.
His face was swarthy, almost Oriental, with laige,
dark, languorous eyes which might easily hold an
irresistible fascination for women. His hair and
moustache were raven black, the latter short,
pointed, and carefully waxed. His features were
regular and pleasing, save only his straight, thin-
lipped mouth. If ever I saw a murderer's mouth
it was there — a cruel, hard gash in the face, com-
pressed, inexorable, and terrible. He was ill-
advised to train his moustache away from it, for it
was Nature’s danger-signal, set as a warning to his
victims. His voice was engaging and his manners
perfect. In age I should have put him at little over
thirty, though his record afterwards showed that he
was forty-two.

'* Very fine — very fine indeed 1 ” he said at last.
” And you say you have a set of six to correspond.
What puzzles me is that I should not have heard of
such magnificent specimens. I only know of one in
England to match this, and it is certainly not likely to
be in the market. Would it be indiscreet if I were to
ask you, Dr. Hill Barton, how you obtained this ? "

“ Does it really matter ? ” I asked, with as care-
less an air as I could muster. “ You can see that
the piece is genuine, and, as to the value, I am con-
tent to take an expert’s valuation.”

" Very mysterious,” said he, with a quick, sus-
picious flash of his dark eyes. ” In dealing with
objects of such value, one naturally wishes to know

40 CASE-BOOK OF SHERLOCK HOLMES

all about the transaction. That the piece is genuine
is certain. I have no doubts at all about that. But
suppose — I am bound to take every possibility into
account — that it should prove afterwards that you
had no right to sell ? "

" I would guarantee you against any claim of the
sort.”

" That, of course, would open up the question as
to what your guarantee was worth.”

“ My bankers would answer that.”

" Quite so. And yet the whole transaction strikes
me as rather unusual.”

" You can do business or not,” said I, with in-
difference. “ I have given you the first offer as I
understood that you were a connoisseur, but I shall
have no difficulty in other quarters.”

" Who told you I was a connoisseur ? ”

" I was aware that you had written a book upon
the subject.”

" Have you read the book ? "

” No.”

“ Dear me, this becomes more and more difficult
for me to understand ! You are a connoisseur and
collector with a very valuable piece in your collection,
and yet you have never troubled to consult the one
book which would have told you of the real meaning
and value of what you held. How do you explain
that ? ”

** I 3111 a very busy man. I am a doctor in prac-
tice.”

“ That is no answer. If a man has a hobby he
follows it up, whatever his other pursuits may be.
You said in your note that you were a connoisseur.”

THE ILLUSTRIOUS CLIENT

4i

*' So I am.”

" Might I ask you a few questions to test you ? I
am obliged to tell you, doctor — if you are indeed a
doctor — that the incident becomes more and more
suspicious. I would ask you what do you know of
the Emperor Shomu and how do you associate him
with the Shoso-in near Nara ? Dear me, does that
puzzle you ? Tell me a little about the Northern
Wei dynasty and its place in the history of ceramics.”

I sprang from my chair in simulated anger.

** This is intolerable, sir,” said I. “ I came here
to do you a favour, and not to be examined as if I
were a schoolboy. My knowledge on these subjects
may be second only to your own, but I certainly
shall not answer questions which have been put in
so offensive a way.”

He looked at me steadily. The languor had gone
from his eyes. They suddenly glared. There was
a gleam of teeth from between those cruel lips.

“ What is the game ? You are here as a spy.
You are an emissary of Holmes. This is a trick that
you are playing upon me. The fellow is dying, I hear,
so he sends his tools to keep watch upon me. You’ve
made your way in here without leave, and, by God 1
you may find it harder to get out than to get

* fl

in.

He had sprung to his feet, and I stepped back,
bracing myself for an attack, for -the man was beside
himself with rage. He may have suspected me from
the first ; certainly this cross-examination had
shown him the truth ; but it was clear that I could
not hope to deceive him. He dived his hand into a
side-drawer and rummaged furiously. Then some-

42 CASE-BOOK OF SHERLOCK HOLMES

thing struck upon his ear, for he stood listening
intently.

“ Ah ! ” he cried. “ Ah ! " and dashed into the
room behind him.

Two steps took me to the open door, and my mind
will ever carry a clear picture of the scene within.
The window leading out to the garden was wide
open. Beside it, looking like some terrible ghost,
his head girt with bloody bandages, his face drawn
and white, stood Sherlock Holmes. The next in-
stant he was through the gap, and I heard the crash
of his body among the laurel bushes outside. With
a howl of rage the master of the house rushed after
him to the open window.

And then I It was done in an instant, and yet I
clearly saw it. An arm — a woman’s arm — shot out
from among the leaves. At the same instant the
Baron uttered a horrible cry — a yell which will
always ring in my memory. He clapped his two
hands to his face and rushed round the room, beating
his head horribly against the walls. Then he fell
upon the carpet, rolling and writhing, while scream
after scream resounded through the house.

, " Water ! For God’s sake, water ! ” was his cry.

I seized a carafe from a side-table and rushed to
his aid. At the same moment the butler and several
footmen ran in from the hall. I remember that one
of them fainted as I knelt by the injured man and
turned that awful face to the light of the lamp.
The vitriol was eating into it everywhere and drip-
ping from the ears and the chin. One eye was
already white and glazed. The other was red and
inflamed. The features which I had admired a few

THE ILLUSTRIOUS CLIENT 43

minutes before were now like some beautiful paint-
ing over which the artist has passed a wet and foul
sponge. They were blurred, discoloured, inhuman,
terrible.

In a few words I explained exactly what had
occurred, so far as the vitriol attack was concerned.
Some had climbed through the window and others
had rushed out on to the lawn, but it was dark and it
had begun to rain. Between his screams the victim
raged and raved against the avenger. " It was that
hell-cat, Kitty Winter l ” he cried. “ Oh, the she-
devil 1 She shall pay for it ! She shall pay 1 Oh,
God in heaven, this pain is more than I can bear ! ”

I bathed his face in oil, put cotton wadding on the
raw surfaces, and administered a hypodermic of
morphia. All suspicion of me had passed from his
mind in the presence of this shock, and he clung to
my hands as if I might have the power even yet to
clear those dead-fish eyes which gazed up at me. I
could have wept over the ruin had I not remembered
very clearly the vile life which had led up to so
hideous a change. It was loathsome to feel the paw-
ing of his burning hands, and I was relieved when his
family surgeon, closely followed by a specialist, came
to relieve me of my charge. An inspector of police
had also arrived, and to him I handed my real card.
It would have been useless as well as foolish to do
otherwise, for I was nearly as well known by sight at
the Yard as Holmes himself. Then I left that house
of gloom and terror. Within an hour I was at Baker
Street.

Holmes was seated in his familiar chair, looking
very pale and exhausted. Apart from his injuries,

44 CASE-BOOK OF SHERLOCK HOLMES

even his iron nerves had been shocked by the events
of the evening, and he listened with horror to my
account of the Baron's transformation.

" The wages of sin, Watson — the wages of sin 1 ”
said he. " Sooner or later it will always come.
God knows, there was sin enough," he added, taking
up a brown volume from the table. “ Here is the
book the woman talked of. If this will not break off
the marriage, nothing ever could. But it will, Wat-
son. It must. No self-respecting woman could
stand it.”

“ It is his love diary ? "

" Or his lust diary. Call it what you will. The
moment the woman told us of it I realized what a
tremendous weapon was there, if we could but lay
our hands on it. I said nothing at the time to indi-
cate my thoughts, for this woman might have given
it away. But I brooded over it. Then this assault
upon me gave me the chance of letting the Baron
think that no precautions need be taken against me.
That was all to the good. I would have waited a
little longer, but his visit to America forced my hand.
He would never have left so compromising a docu-
ment behind him. Therefore we had to act at once.
Burglary at night is impossible. He takes pre-
cautions. But there was a chance m the evening if
I could only be sure that his attention was engaged.
That was where you and your blue saucer came in.
But I had to be sure of the position of the book, and
I knew I had only a few minutes in which to act,
for my time was limited by your knowledge of
Chinese pottery. Therefore I gathered the girl up
at the last moment. How could I guess what the

THE ILLUSTRIOUS CLIENT 45

little packet was that she carried so carefully under
her cloak ? I thought she had come altogether on
my business, but it seems she had some of her own.”

” He guessed I came from you.”

“ I feared he would. But you held him in play
just long enough for me to get the book, though not
long enough for an unobserved escape. Ah, Sir
James, I am very glad you have come ! ”

Our courtly friend had appeared in answer to a
previous summons. He listened with the deepest
attention to Holmes’s account of what had occurred.

“ You have done wonders — wonders 1 ” he cried,
when he had heard the narrative. " But if these in-
juries are as terrible as Dr. Watson describes, then
surely our purpose of thwarting the marriage is
sufficiently gained without the use of this horrible
book.”

Holmes shook his head.

” Women of the de Merville type do not act like
that. She would love him the more as a disfigured
martyr. No, no. It is his moral side, not his
physical, which we have to destroy. That book will
bring her back to earth — and I know nothing else
that could. It is in his own writing. She cannot
get past it.”

Sir James carried away both it and the precious
saucer. As I was myself overdue, I went down
with him into the street. A brougham was waiting
for him. He sprang in, gave a hurried order to the
cockaded coachman, and drove swiftly away. He
flung his overcoat half out of the window to cover
the armorial bearings upon the panel, but I had seen
them in the glare of our fanlight none the less. I

46 CASE-BOOK OF SHERLOCK HOLMES

gasped with surprise. Then I turned back and
ascended the stair to Holmes’s room.

“ I have found out who our client is/' I cried,
bursting with my great news. “ Why, Holmes, it

“ It is a loyal friend and a chivalrous gentleman,”
said Holmes, holding up a restraining hand. " Let
that now and for ever be enough for us.”

I do not know how the incriminating book was
used. Sir James may have managed it. Or it is
more probable that so delicate a task was entrusted
to the young lady's father. The effect, at any rate,
was all that could be desired. Three days later
appeared a paragraph in The Morning Post to say
that the marriage between Baron Adelbert Gruner
and Miss Violet de Merville would not take place.
The same paper had the first police-court hearing of
the proceedings against Miss Kitty Winter on the
grave charge of vitriol-throwing. Such extenuating
circumstances came out in the trial that the sentence,
as will be remembered, was the lowest that was
possible for such an offence. Sherlock Holmes was
threatened with a prosecution for burglary, but
when an object is good and a client is sufficiently
illustrious, even the rigid British law becomes human
and elastic. My friend has not yet stood in the
dock.

II

THE ADVENTURE OF THE BLANCHED
SOLDIER

T HE ideas of my friend Watson, tnough limited,
are exceedingly pertinacious. For a long
time he has worried me to write an experience of
my own. Perhaps I have rather invited this perse-
cution, since I have often had occasion to point out
to him how superficial are his own accounts and to
accuse him of pandering to popular taste instead
of confining himself rigidly to facts and figures.
" Try it yourself. Holmes I ” he has retorted, and
I am compelled to admit that, having taken my
pen in my hand, I do begin to realize that the
matter must be presented in such a way as may
interest the reader. The following case can hardly
fail to do so, as it is among the strangest happenings
in my collection, though it chanced that Watson had
no note of it in his collection. Speaking of my old
friend and biographer, I would take this opportunity
to remark that if I burden myself with a com-
panion in my various little inquiries it is not done
out of sentiment or caprice, but it is that Watson
has some remarkable characteristics of his own, to
which in his modesty he has given small attention
amid his exaggerated estimates of my own perform-
ances. A confederate who foresees your conclusions

47

48 CASE-BOOK OF SHERLOCK HOLMES

and course of action is always dangerous, but one
to whom each development comes as a perpetual
surprise, and to whom the future is always a closed
book, is, indeed, an ideal helpmate.

I find from my notebook that it was in January,
IQ03, just after the conclusion of the Boer War, that
I had my visit from Mr. James M. Dodd, a big,
fresh, sunburned, upstanding Briton. The good
Watson had at that time deserted me for a wife,
the only selfish action which I can recall in our
association. I was alone.

It is my habit to sit with my back to the window
and to place my visitors in the opposite chair, where
the light falls full upon them. Mr. James M. Dodd
seemed somewhat at a loss how to begin the inter-
view. I did not attempt to help him, for his silence
gave me more time for observation. I have found
it wise to impress clients with a sense of power, and
so I gave him some of my conclusions.

“ From South Africa, sir, I perceive.”

" Yes, sir,” he answered, with some surprise.

'* Imperial Yeomanry, I fancy.”

" Exactly.”

*' Middlesex Corps, no doubt."

” That is so. Mr. Holmes, you are a wizard.”

I smiled at his bewildered expression.

” When a gentleman of virile appearance enters
my room with such tan upon his face as an English
sun could never give, and with his handkerchief in
his sleeve instead of in his pocket, it is not diffi cult
to place him. You wear a short beard, which
shows that you were not a regular. You have the
cut of a riding-man. As to Middlesex, your card

THE BLANCHED SOLDIER 49

has already shown me that you are a stockbroker
from Throgmorton Street. What other regiment
would you join ? ”

" You see everything.”

" I see no more than you, but I have trained my-
self to notice what I see. However, Mr. Dodd, it
was not to discuss the science of observation that
you called upon me this morning. What has been
happening at Tuxbury Old Park ? ”

“ Mr. Holmes 1 ”

“ My dear sir, there is no mystery. Your letter
came with that heading, and as you fixed this
appointment in very pressing terms it was clear that
something sudden and important had occurred.”

“Yes, indeed. But the letter was written in the
afternoon, and a good deal has happened since then.
If Colonel Emsworth had not kicked me out ”

“ Kicked you out ! ”

“ Well, that was what it amounted to. He is a
hard nail, is Colonel Emsworth. The greatest
martinet in the Army in his day, and it was a day
of rough language, too. I couldn't have stuck the
Colonel if it had not been for Godfrey's sake.”

I lit my pipe and leaned back in my chair.

“ Perhaps you will explain what you are talking
•about.”

My client grinned mischievously.

" I had got into the way of supposing that you
knew everything without being told,” said he.
“ But I will give you the facts, and I hope to God
that you will be able to tell me what they mean.
I’ve been awake all night puzzling my brain, and the
more I think the more incredible does it become.

50 CASE-BOOK OF SHERLOCK HOLMES

When I joined up in January, 1901 — just two
years ago— young Godfrey Emsworth had joined
the same squadron. He was Colonel Emsworth's
only son — Emsworth, the Crimean V.C. — and he had
the fighting blood in him, so it is no wonder he
volunteered. There was not a finer lad in the regi-
ment. We formed a friendship — the sort of friend-
ship which can only be made when one lives the
same life and shares the same joys and sorrows. He
was my mate — and that means a good deal in the
Army. We took the rough and the smooth together
for a year of hard fighting. Then he was hit with a
bullet from an elephant gun in the action near Dia-
mond Hill outside Pretoria. I got one letter from
the hospital at Cape Town and one from South-
ampton. Since then not a word — not one word, Mr.
Holmes, for six months and more, and he my closest
pal.

“ Well, when the war was over, and we all got
back, I wrote to his father and asked where Godfrey
was. No answer. I waited a bit and then I wrote
again. This time I had a reply, short and gruff.
Godfrey had gone on a voyage round the world, and
it was not likely that he would be back for a year.
That was all.

"I wasn’t satisfied, Mr. Holmes. The whole
thing seemed to me so damned unnatural. He was
a good lad and he would not drop a pal like that. It
was not like him. Then, again, I happened to know
that he was heir to a lot of money, and also that his
father and he did not always hit it off too well. The
old man was sometimes a bully, and young Godfrey
had too much spirit to stand it. No, I wasn’t satis-

THE BLANCHED SOLDIER 51

*

fied, and I determined that I would get to the root
of the matter. It happened, however, that my own
affairs needed a lot of straightening out, after two
years’ absence, and so it is only this week that I
have been able to take up Godfrey’s case again. But
since I have taken it up I mean to drop everything
in order to see it through.”

Mr. James M. Dodd appeared to be the sort of
person whom it would be better to have as a friend
than as an enemy. His blue eyes were stem and
his square jaw had set hard as he spoke.

“ Well, what have you done ? ” I asked.

“ My first move was to get down to his home, Tux-
bury Old Park, near Bedford, and to see for myself
how the ground lay. I wrote to the mother, there-
fore — I had had quite enough of the curmudgeon of a
father — and I made a clean frontal attack : Godfrey
was my chum, I had a great deal of interest which I
might tell her of our common experiences, I should
be in the neighbourhood, would there be any objec-
tion, et cetera ? In reply I had quite an amiable
answer from her and an offer to put me up for
the night. That was what took me down on
Monday.

"Tuxbury Old Hall is inaccessible — five miles
from anywhere. There was no trap at the station,
so I had to walk, carrying my suit-case, and it was
nearly dark before I arrived. It is a great wandering
house, standing in a considerable park. I should
judge it was of all sorts of ages and styles, starting
on a half-timbered Elizabethan foundation and end-
ing in a Victorian portico. Inside it was all panelling
and tapestry and half-effaced old pictures, a house

50 CASE-BOOK OF SHERLOCK HOLMES

*' When I joined up in January, 1901 — just two
years ago— young Godfrey Emsworth had joined
the same squadron. He was Colonel Emsworth's
only son — Emsworth, the Crimean V.C. — and he had
the fighting blood in him, so it is no wonder he
volunteered. There was not a finer lad in the regi-
ment. We formed a friendship — the sort of friend-
ship whidi can only be made when one lives the
same life and shares the same joys and sorrows. He
was my mate — and that means a good deal in the
Army. We took the rough and the smooth together
for a year of hard fighting. Then he was hit with a
bullet from an elephant gun in the action near Dia-
mond Hill outside Pretoria. I got one letter from
the hospital at Cape Town and one from South-
ampton. Since then not a word — not one word, Mr.
Holmes, for six months and more, and he my closest
pal.

" Well, when the war was over, and we all got
back, I wrote to his father and asked where Godfrey
was. No answer. I waited a bit and then I wrote
again. This time I had a reply, short and gruff.
Godfrey had gone on a voyage round the world, and
it was not likely that he would be back for a year.
That was all.

“ I wasn’t satisfied, Mr. Holmes. The whole
thing seemed to me so damned unnatural. He was
a good lad and he would not drop a pal like that. It
was not like him. Then, again, I happened to know
that he was heir to a lot of money, and also that his
father and he did not always hit it off too well. The
old man was sometimes a bully, and young Godfrey
had too much spirit to stand it. No, I wasn’t satis-

THE BLANCHED SOLDIER 51

tied, and I determined that I would get to the root
of the matter. It happened, however, that my own
affairs needed a lot of straightening out, after two
years’ absence, and so it is only this week that I
have been able to take up Godfrey’s case again. But
since I have taken it up I mean to drop everything
in order to see it through.”

Mr. James M. Dodd appeared to be the sort of
person whom it would be better to have as a friend
than as an enemy. His blue eyes were stem and
his square jaw had set hard as he spoke.

” Well, what have you done ? ” I asked.

" My first move was to get down to his home, Tux-
bury Old Park, near Bedford, and to see for myself
how the ground lay. I wrote to the mother, there-
fore — I had had quite enough of the curmudgeon of a
father — and I made a clean frontal attack : Godfrey
was my chum, I had a great deal of interest which I
might tell her of our common experiences, I should
be in the neighbourhood, would there be any objec-
tion, et cetera ? In reply I had quite an amiable
answer from her and an offer to put me up for
the night. That was what took me down on
Monday.

" Tuxbury Old Hall is inaccessible — five miles
from anywhere. There was no trap at the station,
so I had to walk, carrying my suit-case, and it was
nearly dark before I arrived. It is a great wandering
house, standing in a considerable park. I should
judge it was of all sorts of ages and styles, starting
on a half-timbered Elizabethan foundation and end-
ing in a Victorian portico. Inside it was all panelling
and tapestry and half-effaced old pictures, a house

50 CASE-BOOK OF SHERLOCK HOLMES

« When I joined up in January, 1901— just two
years ago — young Godfrey Emsworth had joined
the same squadron. He was Colonel Emsworth s
only son— Emsworth, the Crimean V.C.— and he had
the fighting blood in him, so it is no wonder he
volunteered. There was not a finer lad in the rai-
ment. We formed a friendship — the sort of friend'*
ship which can only be made when one lives the
same life and shares the same joys and sorrows. He
was my mate — and that means a good deal in the
Army. We took the rough and the smooth together
for a year of hard fighting. Then he was hit with a
bullet from an elephant gun in the action near Dia-
mond Hill outside Pretoria. I got one letter from
the hospital at Cape Town and one from South-
ampton. Since then not a word — not one word, Mr.
Holmes, for six months and more, and he my closest
pal.

" Well, when the war was over, and we all got
back, I wrote to his father and asked where Godfrey
was. No answer. I waited a bit and then I wrote
again. This time I had a reply, short and gruff.
Godfrey had gone on a voyage round the world, and
it was not likely that he would be back for a year.
That was all.

" I wasn’t satisfied, Mr. Holmes. The whole
thing seemed to me so damned unnatural. He was
a good lad and he would not drop a pal like that. It
was not like him. Then, again, I happened to know
that he was heir to a lot of money, and also that his
father and he did not always hit it off too well. The
old man was sometimes a bully, and young Godfrey
had too much spirit to stand it. No, I wasn’t satis-

THE BLANCHED SOLDIER 51

fied, and I determined that I would get to the root
of the matter. It happened, however, that my own
affairs needed a lot of straightening out, after two
years' absence, and so it is only this week that- I
have been able to take up Godfrey’s case again. But
since I have taken it up I mean to drop everything
in order to see it through."

Mr. James M. Dodd appeared to be the sort of
person whom it would be better to have as a friend
than as an enemy. His blue eyes were stem and
his square jaw had set hard as he spoke.

" Well, what have you done ? ” I asked.

“ My first move was to get down to his home, Tux-
bury Old Park, near Bedford, and to see for myself
how the ground lay. I wrote to the mother, there-
fore — I had had quite enough of the curmudgeon of a
father — and I made a clean frontal attack : Godfrey
was my chum, I had a great deal of interest which I
might tell her of our common experiences, I should
be in the neighbourhood, would there be any objec-
tion, et cetera ? In reply I had quite an amiable
answer from her and an offer to put me up for
the night. That was what took me down on
Monday.

“ Tuxbury Old Hall is inaccessible — five miles
from anywhere. There was no trap at the station,
so I had to walk, carrying my suit-case, and it was
nearly dark before I arrived. It is a great wandering
house, standing in a considerable park. I should
judge it was of all sorts of ages and styles, starting
on a half-timbered Elizabethan foundation and end-
ing in a Victorian portico. Inside it was all panelling
and tapestry and half-effaced old pictures, a house

5a CASE-BOOK OF SHERLOCK HOLMES

of shadows and mystery. There was a butler, old
Ralph, who seemed about the same age as the house
and there was his wife, who might have been older.
She had been Godfrey’s nurse, and I had heard him
speak of her as second only to his mother in his
affections, so I was drawn to her in spite of her queer
appearance. The mother I liked also — a gentle little
white mouse of a woman. It was only the Colonel
himself whom I barred.

'* We had a bit of a barney right away, and I
should have walked back to the station if I had not
felt that it might be playing his game for me to do
so. I was shown straight into his study, and there
I found him, a huge, bow-backed man with a smoky
skin and a straggling grey beard, seated behind his
littered desk. A red-veined nose jutted out like a
vulture's beak, and two fierce grey eyes glared at
me from under tufted brows. I could understand
now why Godfrey seldom spoke of his father.

Well, sir,’ said he in a rasping voice. ‘ I should
be interested to know the real reasons for this visit.’

" I answered that I had explained them in my
letter to his wife.

Yes, yes ; you said that you had known God-
frey in Africa. We have, of course, only your word
for that.'

“ * I have his letters to me in my pocket.’

" * Kindly let me see them.’

“ He glanced at the two which I handed him, and
then he tossed them back.

" * Well, what then ? ' he asked.

“ * I was fond of your son Godfrey, sir. Many
ties and memories united us. Is it not natural that

THE BLANCHED SOLDIER 53

I should wonder at his sudden silence and should
wish to know what has become of him ? ’

“ ‘ I have some recollection, sir, that I had already
corresponded with you and had told you what had
become of him. He has gone upon a voyage round
the world. His health was in a poor way after his
African experiences, and both his mother and I were
of opinion that complete rest and change were
needed. Kindly pass that explanation on to any
other friends who may be interested in the matter.'

“ ' Certainly,' I answered. * But perhaps you
would have the goodness to let me have the name of
the steamer and of the line by which he sailed, to-
gether with the date. I have no doubt that I should
be able to get a letter through to him.’

“ My request seemed both to puzzle and to irritate
my host. His great eyebrows came down over his
eyes and he tapped his fingers impatiently on the
table. He looked up at last with the expression of
one who has seen his adversary make a dangerous
move at chess, and has decided how to meet it.

“ ‘ Many people, Mr. Dodd,’ said he, ‘ would take
offence at your infernal pertinacity and would think
that this insistence had reached the point of damned
impertinence.'

“ * You must put it down, sir, to my real love for
your son.'

“ ‘ Exactly. I have already made every allow-
ance upon that score. I must ask you, however, to
drop these inquiries. Every family has its own
inner knowledge and its own motives, which cannot
always be made clear to outsiders, however well-
intentioned. My wife is anxious to hear something

54 CASE-BOOK OF SHERLOCK HOLMES

of Godfrey’s past which you are in a position to tell
her, but I would ask you to let the present and the
future alone. Such inquiries serve no useful pur-
pose, sir, and place us in a delicate and difficult
position.’

“ So I came to a dead end, Mr. Holmes. There
was no getting past it. I could only pretend to
accept the situation and register a vow inwardly that
I would never rest until my friend’s fate had been
cleared up. It was a dull evening. We dined
quietly, the three of us, in a gloomy, faded ojd room.
The lady questioned me eagerly about her son, but
the old man seemed morose and depressed. I was
so bored by the whole proceeding that I made an
excuse as soon as I decently could and retired to my
bedroom. It was a large, bare room on the ground
floor, as gloomy as the rest of the house, but after a
year of sleeping upon the veldt, Mr. Holmes, one is
not too particular about one’s quarters. I opened
the curtains and looked out into the garden, remark-
ing that it was a fine night with a bright half-moon.
Then I sat down by the roaring fire with the lamp on
a table beside me, and endeavoured to distract my
mind with a novel. I was interrupted, however, by
Ralph, the old butler, who came in with a fresh
supply of coals.

“ ‘ I thought you might run short in the night-
time, sir. It is bitter weather and these rooms are
cold.'

“ He hesitated before leaving the room, and when
I looked round he was standing facing me with a
wistful look upon his wrinkled face.

" ‘ Beg your pardon, sir, but I could not help

THE BLANCHED SOLDIER 55

hearing what you said of young Master Godfrey at
dinner. You know, sir, that my wife nursed him ,
and so I may say I am his foster-father. It's natural
we should take an interest. And you say he carried
himself well, sir ? '

“ ‘ There was no braver man in the regiment. He
pulled me out once from under the rifles of the Boers,
or maybe I should not be here.'

" The old butler rubbed his skinny hands.

" ‘ Yes, sir, yes, that is Master Godfrey all over.
He was always courageous. There’s not a tree in
the park, sir, that he has not climbed. Nothing
would stop him. He was a fine boy — and oh, sir, he
was a fine man.’

” I sprang to my feet.

" * Look here ! ’ I cried. * You say he was. You
speak as if he were dead. What is all this mystery ?
What has become of Godfrey Emsworth ? '

“ I gripped the old man by the shoulder, but he
shrank away.

" ‘ I don’t know what you mean, sir. Ask the
master about Master Godfrey. He knows. It is
not for me to interfere.’

“ He was leaving the room, but I held his arm.

“ ‘ Listen,' I said. * You are going to answer one
question before you leave if I have to hold you all
night. Is Godfrey dead ? ’

" He could not face my eyes. He was like a man
hypnotized. The answer was dragged from his lips.
It was a terrible and unexpected one.

" * I wish to God he was 1 ’ he cried, and, tearing
himself free, he dashed from the room.

" You will think, Mr. Holmes, that I returned to

56 CASE-BOOK OF SHERLOCK HOLMES

my chair in no very happy state of mind. The old
man’s words seemed to me to bear only one inter-
pretation. Clearly my poor friend had become
involved in some criminal, or, at the least, disreput-
able, transaction which touched the family honour.
That stem old man had sent his son away and hidden
him from the world lest some scandal should come
to light. Godfrey was a reckless fellow. He was
easily influenced by those around him. No doubt
he had fallen into bad hands and been misled to his
ruin. It was a piteous business, if it was indeed so,
but even now it was my duty to hunt him out and
see if I could aid him. I was anxiously pondering
the matter when I looked up, and there was Godfrey
Emsworth standing before me.”

My client had paused as one in deep emotion.

“ Pray continue,” I said. “ Your problem pre-
sents some very unusu 1 features.”

" He was outside the window, Mr. Holmes, with
his face pressed against the glass. I have told you
that I looked out at the night. When I did so, I
left the curtains partly open. His figure was framed
in this gap. The window came down to the ground
and I could see the whole length of it, but it was his
face which held my gaze. He was deadly pale —
never have I seen a man so white. I reckon ghosts
may look like that ; but his eyes met mine, and they
were the eyes of a living man. He sprang back when
he saw that I was looking at him, and he vanished
into the darkness.

” There was something shocking about the man,
Mr. Holmes. It wasn't merely that ghastly face
glimmering as white as cheese in the darkness. It

THE BLANCHED SOLDIER 57

was more subtle than that — something slinking,,
something furtive, something guilty — something
very unlike the frank, manly lad that I had known.
It left a feeling of horror in my mind.

“ But when a man has been soldiering for a year
or two with brother Boer as a playmate, he keeps
his nerve and acts quickly. Godfrey had hardly
vanished before I was at the window. There was
an awkward catch, and I was some little time before
I could throw it up. Then I nipped through and
ran down the garden path in the direction that I
thought he might have taken.

" It was a long path and the light was not very
good but it seemed to me something was moving
ahead of me. I ran on and called his name, but it
was no use. When I got to the end of the path
there were several others branching in different
directions to various outhouses. I stood hesitating,
and as I did so I heard distinctly the sound of a clos-
ing door. It was not behind me in the house, but
ahead of me, somewhere in the darkness. That was
enough, Mr. Holmes, to assure me that what I had
seen was not a vision. Godfrey had run away from
me and he had shut a door behind him. Of that I
was certain.

“ There was nothing more I could do, and I spent
an uneasy night turning the matter over in my mind
and trying to find some theory which would cover the
facts. Next day I found the Colonel rather more
conciliatory, and as his wife remarked that there
were some places of interest in the neighbourhood,
it gave me an opening to ask whether my presence
for one more night would incommode them. A

58 CASE-BOOK OF SHERLOCK HOLMES

somewhat grudging acquiescence from the old man
gave me a clear day in which to make my observa-
tions. I was already perfectly convinced that God-
frey was in hiding somewhere near, but where and
why remained to be solved.

" The house was so large and so rambling that a
regiment might be hid away in it and no one the
wiser.. If the secret lay there, it was difficult for me
to penetrate it. But the door which I had heard
close was certainly not in the house. I must explore
the garden and see what I could find. There was
no difficulty in the way, for the old people were
busy in their own fashion and left me to my own
devices.

“ There were several small outhouses, but at the
end of the garden there was a detached building of
some size — large enough for a gardener’s or a game-
keeper’s residence. Could this be the place whence
the sound of that shutting door had come ? I
approached it in a careless fashion, as though I were
strolling aimlessly round the grounds. As I did so,
a small, brisk, bearded man in a black coat and
bowler hat — not at all the gardener type — came out
of the door. To my surprise, he locked it after him
and put the key in his pocket. Then he looked at
me with some surprise on his face.

“ ‘ Are you a visitor here ? ’ he asked.

“ I explained that I was and that I was a friend
of Godfrey’s.

‘ What a pity that he should be away on his
travels, for he would have so liked to see me,’ I con-
tinued.

Quite so. Exactly,’ said he, with a rather

THE BLANCHED SOLDIER

59

guilty air. ' No doubt you will renew your visit at
some more propitious time/ He passed on, but
when I turned I observed that he was standing
watching me, half-concealed by the laurels at the
far end of the garden.

“ I had a good look at the little house as I passed
it, but the windows were heavily curtained, and, so
far as one could see, it was empty. I might spoil
my own game, and even be ordered off the premises,
if I were too audacious, for I was still conscious that
1 was being watched. Therefore, I strolled back to
the house and waited for night before I went on with
my inquiry. When all was dark and quiet, I slipped
out of my window and made my way as silently as
possible to the mysterious lodge.

“ I have said that it was heavily curtained, but
now I found that the windows were shuttered as well.
Some light, however, was breaking through one of
them, so I concentrated my attention upon this. I
was in luck, for the curtain had not been quite closed,
and there was a crack in the shutter so that I could
see the inside of the room. It was a cheery place
enough, a bright lamp and a blazing fire. Opposite
to me was seated the little man whom I had seen in
the morning. He was smoking a pipe and reading a
paper.”

" What paper ? ” I asked.

My client seemed annoyed at the interruption of
his narrative.

" Can it matter ? ” he asked.

“ It is most essential.”

" I really took no notice.”

" Possibly you observed whether it was a broad-

60 CASE-BOOK OF SHERLOCK HOLMES

leafed paper or of that smaller type which one
associates with weeklies."

“ Now that you mention it, it was not large. It
might have been The Spectator. However, I had
little thought to spare upon such details, for a second
man was seated with his back to the window, and I
could swear that this second man was Godfrey. I
could not see his face, but I knew the familiar slope
of his shoulders. He was leaning upon his elbow in
an attitude of great melancholy, his body turned
towards the fire. I was hesitating as to what I
should do when there was a sharp tap on my shoul-
der, and there was Colonel Emsworth beside me.

“ ‘ This way, sir I ' said he in a low voice. He
walked in silence to the house and I followed him
into my own bedroom. He had picked up a time-
table in the hall.

" ‘ There is a train to London at eight-thirty,' said
he. ‘ The trap will be at the door at eight.'

" He was white with rage, and, indeed, I felt my-
self in so difficult a position that I could only stam-
mer out a few incoherent apologies, in which I tried
to excuse myself by urging my anxiety for my friend.

“ ‘ The matter will not bear discussion,' said he
abruptly. ‘ You have made a most damnable intru-
sion into the privacy of our family. You were here
as a guest and you have become a spy. I have
nothing more to say, sir, save that I have no wish
ever to see you again.'

“ At this I lost my temper, Mr. Holmes, and I
spoke with some warmth.

“ ‘ I have seen your son, and I am convinced that
for some reason of your own you are concealing him

THE BLANCHED SOLDIER 61

from the world. I have no idea what your motives
are in cutting him oil in this fashion, but I am sure
that he is no longer a free agent. I warn you,
Colonel Emsworth, that until I am assured as to the
safety and well-being of my friend I shall never
desist in my efforts to get to the bottom of the
mystery, and I shall certainly not allow myself to be
intimidated by anything which you may say or do.’

“ The old fellow looked diabolical, and I really
thought he was about to attack me. I have said
that he was a gaunt, fierce old giant, and though I
am no weakling I might have been hard put to it to
hold my own against him. However, after a long
glare of rage he turned upon his heel and walked out
of the room. For my part, I took the appointed
train in the morning, with the full intention of com-
ing straight to you and asking for your advice and
assistance at the appointment for which I had
already written.”

Such was the problem which my visitor laid before
me. It presented, as the astute reader will have
already perceived, few difficulties in its solution, for
a very limited choice of alternatives must get to the
root of the matter. Still, elementary as it was,
there were points of interest and novelty about it
which may excuse my placing it upon record. I now
proceeded, using my familiar method of logical
analysis, to narrow down the possible solutions.

“ The servants,” I asked ; ” how many were in
the house ? ”

" To the best of my belief there were only the old
butler and his wife. They seemed to live in the
simplest fashion.”

62 CASE-BOOK OF SHERLOCK HOLMES

"There was no servant, then, in the detached
house ? "

“ None, unless the little man with the beard acted
as such. He seemed, however, to be quite a superior
person."

“ That seems very suggestive. Had you any indi-
cation that food was conveyed from the one house
to the other ? "

" Now that you mention it, I did see old Ralph
carrying a basket down the garden walk and going
in the direction of this house. The idea of food did
not occur to me at the moment.”

" Did you make any local inquiries ? "

" Yes, I did. I spoke to the station-master and
also to the innkeeper in the village. 1 simply asked
if they knew anything of my old comrade, Godfrey
Emsworth. Both of them assured me that he had
gone for a voyage round the world. He had come
home and then had almost at once started off again.
The story was evidently universally accepted."

" You said nothing of your suspicions ? ”

" Nothing.”

" That was very wise. The matter should cer-
tainly be inquired into. I will go back with you to
Tuxbury Old Park."

" To-day ? "

It happened that at the moment I was clearing
up the case which my friend Watson has described
as that of the Abbey School, in which the Duke of
Greyminster was so deeply involved. I had also a
commission from the Sultan of Turkey which called
for immediate action, as political consequences of
the gravest kind might arise fromits neglect. There-

THE BLANCHED SOLDIER 63

fore it was not until the beginning of the next week,
as my diary records, that I was able to start forth
on my mission to Bedfordshire in company with Mr.
James M. Dodd. As we drove to Euston we picked
up a grave and taciturn gentleman of iron-grey
aspect, with whom I had made the necessary
arrangements.

" This is an old friend,” said I to Dodd. " It is
possible that his presence may be entirely unneces-
sary, and, on the other hand, it may be essential.
It is not necessary at the present stage to go further
into the matter.”

The narratives of Watson have accustomed the
reader, no doubt, to the fact that I do not waste
words or disclose my thoughts while a case is actually
under consideration. Dodd seemed surprised, but
nothing more was said and the three of us continued
our journey together. In the train I asked Dodd
one more question which I wished our companion to
hear.

'* You say that you saw your friend’s face quite
clearly at the window, so clearly that you are sure
of his identity ? ”

“ I have no doubt about it whatever. His nose
was pressed against the glass. The lamplight shone
full upon him.”

" It could not have been someone resembling
him ? ”

" No, no ; it was he.”

" But you say he was changed ? "

** Only in colour. His face was — how shall I
describe it ? — it was of a fish-belly whiteness. It
was bleached.”

64 CASE-BOOK OF SHERLOCK HOLMES

“ Was it equally pale all over ? "

“ I think not. It was his brow which I saw so
clearly as it was pressed against the window.”

“ Did you call to him ? ”

“ I was too startled and horrified for the moment.
Then I pursued him, as I have told you, but without
result.”

My case was practically complete, and there was
only one small incident needed to round it off.
When, after a considerable drive, we arrived at the
strange old rambling house which my client had
described, it was Ralph, the elderly butler, who
opened the door. I had requisitioned the carriage
for the day and had asked my elderly friend to
remain within it unless we should summon him.
Ralph, a little wrinkled old fellow, was in the con-
ventional costume of black coat and pepper-and-salt
trousers, with only one curious variant. He wore
brown leather gloves, which at sight of us he in-
stantly shuffled off, laying them down on the hall-
table as we passed in. I have, as my friend Watson
may have remarked, an abnormally acute set of
senses, and a faint but incisive scent was apparent.
It seemed to centre on the hall-table. I turned,
placed my hat there, knocked it off, stooped to pick
it up, and contrived to bring my nose within a foot
of the gloves. Yes, it was undoubtedly from them
that the curious tarry odour was oozing. I passed
on into the study with my case complete. Alas,
that I should have to show my hand so when I tell
my own story 1 It was by concealing such links in
the chain that Watson was enabled to produce his
meretricious finales.

THE BLANCHED SOLDIER 65

Colonel Emsworth was not in his room, but he
came quickly enough on receipt of Ralph’s message.
We heard his quick, heavy step in the passage. The
door was flung open and he rushed in with bristling
beard and twisted features, as terrible an old man as
ever I have seen. He held our cards in his hand, and
he tore them up and stamped on the fragments.

“ Have I not told you, you infernal busybody, that
you are warned off the premises ? Never dare to
show your damned face here again. If you enter
again without my leave I shall be within my rights
if I use violence. I'll shoot you, sir ! By God, I
will ! As to you, sir,” turning upon me, “ I extend
the same warning to you. I am familiar with your
ignoble profession, but you must take your reputed
talents to some other field. There is no opening
for them here.”

“ I cannot leave here,” said my client firmly,
" until I hear from Godfrey’s own lips that he is
under no restraint.”

Our involuntary host rang the bell.

“ Ralph,” he said, “ telephone down to the county
police and ask the inspector to send up two con-
stables. Tell him there are burglars in the house.”

" One moment,” said I. “ You must be aware,
Mr. Dodd, that Colonel Emsworth is within his rights
and that we have no legal status within his house.
On the other hand, he should recognize that your
action is prompted entirely by solicitude for his son.
I venture to hope that, if I were allowed to have five
minutes’ conversation with Colonel Emsworth, I
could certainly alter his view of the matter.”

'* I am not so easily altered,” said the old soldier.

66 CASE-BOOK OF SHERLOCK HOLMES

" Ralph, do what I have told you. What the devil
are you waiting for ? Ring up the police l ”

“ Nothing of the sort,” I said, putting my back
to the door. " Any police interference would bring
about the very catastrophe which you dread/' I
took out my notebook and scribbled one word upon
a loose sheet. " That,” said I, as 1 handed it to
Colonel Emsworth, " is what has brought us here.”

He stared at the writing with a face from which
every expression save amazement had vanished.

" How do you know ? ” he gasped, sitting down
heavily in his chair.

" It is my business to know things. That is my
trade.”

He sat in deep thought, his gaunt hand tugging at
his straggling beard. Then he made a gesture of
resignation.

" Well, if you wish to see Godfrey, you shall. It
is no doing of mine, but you have forced my hand.
Ralph, tell Mr. Godfrey and Mr. Kent that in five
minutes we shall be with them.”

At the end of that time we passed down the garden
path and found ourselves in front of the mystery
house at the end. A small bearded man stood at the
door with a look of considerable astonishment upon
his face.

“This is very sudden, Colonel Emsworth,” said
he. ** This will disarrange all our plans.”

" I can’t help it, Mr. Kent. Our hands have been
forced. Can Mr. Godfrey see us ? ”

" Yes ; he is waiting inside.” He turned and
led us into a large, plainly furnished front room. A
man was standing with his back to the fire, and at

THE BLANCHED SOLDIER 67

the sight of him my client sprang forward with out*
stretched hand.

" Why, Godfrey, old man, this is fine 1 ”

But the other waved him back.

" Don’t touch me, Jimmie. Keep your distance.
Yes, you may well stare ! I don’t quite look the
smart Lance-Corporal Emsworth, of B Squadron,
do I ? ”

His appearance was certainly extraordinary.
One could see that he had indeed been a handsome
man with clear-cut features sunburned by an African
sun, but mottled in patches over this darker surface
were curious whitish patches which had bleached his
skin.

** That’s why I don’t court visitors,” said he. “ I
don’t mind you, Jimmie, but I could have done
without your friend. I suppose there is some good
reason for it, but you have me at a disadvantage.”

” I wanted to be sure that all was well with you,
Godfrey. I saw you that night when you looked
into my window, and I could not let the matter rest
till I had cleared things up.”

“ Old Ralph told me you were there, and I couldn’t
help taking a peep at you. I hoped you would not
have seen me, and I had to run to my burrow when
I heard the window go up.”

** But what in Heaven’s name is the matter ? ”

** Well, it’s not a long story to tell,” said he, light-
ing a cigarette. “ You remember that morning
fight at Buffelsspruit, outside Pretoria, on the
Eastern railway line ? You heard I was hit ? ”

" Yes, I heard that, but I never got particulars.”

” Three of us got separated from the others. It

68 CASE-BOOK OF SHERLOCK HOLMES

was very broken country, you may remember.
There was Simpson — the fellow we called Baldy
Simpson — and Anderson, and I. We were clearing
brother Boer, but he lay low and got the three of us.
The other two were killed. I got an elephant bullet
through my shoulder. I stuck on to my horse, how-
ever, and he galloped several miles before I fainted
and rolled off the saddle.

" When I came to myself it was nightfall, and I
raised myself up, feeling very weak and ill. To my
surprise there was a house close beside me, a fairly
large house with a broad stoep and many windows.
It was deadly cold. You remember the kind of
numb cold which used to come at evening, a deadly,
sickening sort of cold, very different from a crisp
healthy frost. Well, I was chilled to the bone, and
my only hope seemed to lie in reaching that house.
I staggered to my feet and dragged myself along,
hardly conscious of what I did. I have a dim
memory of slowly ascending the steps, entering a
wide-opened door, passing into a large room which
contained several beds, and throwing myself down
with a gasp of satisfaction upon one of them. It
was unmade, but that troubled me not at all. I
drew the clothes over my shivering body and in a
moment I was in a deep sleep.

“ It was morning when I wakened, and it seemed
to me that instead of coming out into a world of
sanity I had emerged into some extraordinary night-
mare. The African sun flooded through the big,
curtainless windows, and every detail of the great,
bare, whitewashed dormitory stood out hard and
clear. In front of me was standing a small, dwarf-

THE BLANCHED SOLDIER 69

like man with a huge, bulbous head, who was jabber-
ing excitedly in Dutch, waving two horrible hands
which looked to me like brown sponges. Behind him
stood a group of people who seemed to be intensely
amused by the situation, but a chill came over me as
I looked at them. Not one of them was a normal
human being. Every one was twisted or swollen or
disfigured in some strange way. The laughter of
these strange monstrosities was a dreadful thing to
hear.

" It seemed that none of them could speak Eng-
lish, but the situation wanted clearing up, for the
creature with the big head was growing furiously
angry and, uttering wild beast cries, he had laid his
deformed hands upon me and was dragging me out
of bed, regardless of the f~esh flow of blood from my
wound. The little monster was as strong as a bull,
and I don't know what he might have done to me
had not an elderly man who was clearly in authority
been attracted to the room by the hubbub. He
said a few stem words in Dutch and my persecutor
shrank away. Then he turned upon me, gazing at
me in the utmost amazement.

“ ‘ How in the world did you come here ? ’ he

asked, in amazement. * Wait a bit ! I see that

«

you are tired out and that wounded shoulder of yours
wants looking after. I am a doctor, and I’ll soon
have you tied up. But, man alive ! you are in far
greater danger here than ever you were on the battle-
field. You are in the Leper Hospital, and you have
slept in a leper’s bed.’

“ Need I tell you more, Jimmie ? It seems that
in view of the approaching battle all these poor

70 CASE-BOOK OF SHERLOCK HOLMES

creatures had been evacuated the day before. Then,
as the British advanced, they had been brought back
by this, their medical superintendent, who assured
me that, though he believed he was immune to the
disease, he would none the less never have dared to
do what I had done. He put me in a private room,
treated me kindly, and within a week or so I was
removed to the general hospital at Pretoria.

“ So there you have my tragedy. I hoped against
hope, but it was not until I had reached home that
the terrible signs which you see upon my face told me
that I had not escaped. What was I to do ? I was
in this lonely house. We had two servants whom we
could utterly trust. There was a house where I
could live. Under pledge of secrecy, Mr. Kent, who
is a surgeon, was prepared to stay with me. It
seemed simple enough on those lines. The alter-
native was a dreadful one — segregation for life
among strangers with never a hope of release. But
absolute secrecy was necessary, or even in this quiet
country-side there would have been an outcry, and I
should have been dragged to my horrible doom.
Even you, Jimmie — even you had to be kept in the
dark. Why my father has relented I cannot
imagine."

Colonel Emsworth pointed to me.

"This is the gentleman who forced my hand."
He unfolded the scrap of paper on which I had writ-
ten the word " Leprosy.” " It seemed to me that
if he knew so much as that it was safer that he should
know all."

" And so it was," said I. " Who knows but good
may come of it ? I understand that only Mr. Kent

THE BLANCHED SOLDIER

7i

has seen the patient. May I ask, sir, if you are an
authority pn such complaints, which are, I under-
stand, tropical or semi-tropical in their nature ? ”

" I have the ordinary knowledge of the educated
medical man," he observed, with some stiffness.

" I have no doubt, sir, that you are fully com-
petent, but 1 am sure that you will agree that in
such a case a second opinion is valuable. You have
avoided this, I understand, for fear that pressure
should be put upon you to segregate the patient."

"That is so,” said Colonel Emsworth.

" I foresaw this situation," I explained, " and I
have brought with me a friend whose discretion may
absolutely be trusted. I was able once to do him a
professional service, and he is ready to advise as a
friend rather than as a specialist. His name is Sir
James Saunders.”

The prospect of an interview with Lord Roberts
would not have excited greater wonder and pleasure
in a raw subaltern than was now reflected upon the
face of Mr. Kent.

" I shall indeed be proud,” he murmured.

" Then I will ask Sir James to step this way. He
is at present in the carriage outside the door. Mean-
while, Colonel Emsworth, we may perhaps assemble
in your study, where I could give the necessary
explanations."

And here it is that I miss my Watson. By cun-
ning questions and ejaculations of wonder he could
elevate my simple art, which is but systematized
common sense, into a prodigy. When I tell my own
story I have no such aid. And yet I will give my
process of thought even as I gave it to my small

72 CASE-BOOK OF SHERLOCK HOLMES

audience, which .included Godfrey's mother, in the
study of Colonel Emsworth.

“ That process," said I, “ starts upon the sup-
position that when you have eliminated all which is
impossible, then whatever remains however improb-
able, must be the truth. It may well be that several
explanations remain, in which case one tries test after
test until one or other of them has a convincing
amount of support We will now apply this prin-
ciple to the case in point. As it was first presented
to me, there were three possible explanations of the
seclusion or incarceration of this gentleman in an
outhouse of his father’s mansion. There was the
explanation that he was in hiding for a crime, or
that he was mad and that they wished to avoid an
asylum, or that he had some disease which caused
his segregation. I could think of no other adequate
solutions. These, then, had to be sifted and
balanced against each other.

*' The criminal solution would not bear inspection.
No unsolved crime had been reported from that
district. I was sure of that. If it were some crime
not yet discovered, then clearly it would be to the
interest of the family to get rid of the delinquent and
send him abroad rather than keep him concealed at
home. I could see no explanation for such a line of
conduct.

" Insanity was more plausible. The presence of
the second person in the outhouse suggested a keeper.
The fact that he locked the door when he came out
strengthened the supposition and gave the idea of
constraint. On the other hand, this constraint could
not be severe or the young man. could not have got

THE BLANCHED SOLDIER 73

loose and come down to have a look at his friend.
You will remember, Mr. Dodd, that I felt round for
points, asking you, for example, about the paper
which Mr. Kent was reading. Had it been The
Lancet or The British Medical Journal it would have
helped me. It is not illegal, however, to keep a
lunatic upon private premises so long as there is a
qualified person in attendance and that the author-
ities have been duly notified. Why, then, all this
desperate desire for secrecy ? Once again I could
not get the theory to fit the facts.

“ There remained the third possibility, into which,
rare and unlikely as it was, everything seemed to fit.
Leprosy is not uncommon in South Africa. By
some extraordinary chance this youth might have
contracted it. His people would be placed in a very
dreadful position, since they would desire to save
him from segregation. Great secrecy would be
needed to prevent rumours from getting about and
subsequent interference by the authorities. A
devoted medical man, if sufficiently paid, would
easily be found to take charge of the sufferer. There
would be no reason why the latter should not be
allowed freedom after dark. Bleaching of the skin
is a common result of the disease. The case was a
strong one — so strong that I determined to act as if
it were actually proved. When on arriving here I
noticed that Ralph, who carries out the meals, had
gloves which are impregnated with disinfectants, my
last doubts were removed. A single word showed
you, sir, that your secret was discovered, and if I
wrote rather than said it, it was to prove to you that
my discretion was to be trusted.”

74 CASE-BOOK OF SHERLOCK HOLMES

I was finishing this little analysis of the case when
the door was opened and the austere figure of the
great dermatologist was ushered in. But for once
his sphinx-like features had relaxed and there was a
warm humanity in his eyes. He strode up to Colonel
Emsworth and shook him by the hand.

" It is often my lot to bring ill-tidings, and seldom
good,” said he. “ This occasion is the more wel-
come. It is not leprosy.”

"What?”

" A well-marked case of pseudo-leprosy or ich-
thyosis, a scale-like affection of the skin, unsightly,
obstinate, but possibly curable, and certainly non-
infective. Yes, Mr. Holmes, the coincidence is a
remarkable one. But is it coincidence ? Are there
not subtle forces at work of which we know little ?
Are we assured that the apprehension, from which
this young man has no doubt suffered terribly since
his exposure to its contagion, may not produce a
physical effect which simulates that which it fears ?
At any rate, I pledge my professional reputation

But the lady has fainted ! I think that Mr.

Kent had better be with her until 6 he recovers from
this joyous shock.”

Ill

THE ADVENTURE OF THE MAZARIN STONE

I T was pleasant to Dr. Watson to find himself
once more in the untidy room of the first floor
in Baker Street which had been the starting-point of
so many remarkable adventures. He looked round
him at the scientific charts upon the wall, the add-
charred bench of chemicals, the violin-case leaning
in the comer, the coal-scuttle, which contained of
old the pipes and tobacco. Finally, his eyes came
round to the fresh and smiling face of Billy, the
young but very wise and tactful page, who had
helped a little to fill up the gap of loneliness and
isolation which surrounded the saturnine figure of
the great detective.

“ It all seems very unchanged, Billy. You don’t
change, either. I hope the same can be said of
him? ”

Billy glanced, with some solidtude, at the dosed
door of the bedroom.

" I think he’s in bed and asleep,” he said.

It was seven in the evening of a lovely summer’s
day, but Dr. Watson was sufficiently familiar with
the irregularity of his old friend’s hours to feel no
surprise at the idea.

” That means a case, I suppose ? ”

'* Yes, sir ; he is very hard at it just now. I’m

75

76 CASE-BOOK OF SHERLOCK HOLMES

frightened for his health. He gets paler and thinner,
and he eats nothing. ' When will you be pleased to
dine, Mr. Holmes ? ' Mrs. Hudson asked. * Seven-
thirty, the day after to-morrow,' said he. You
know his way when he is keen on a case."

" Yes, Billy, I know.”

** He’s following someone. Yesterday he was out
as a workman looking for a job. To-day he was an
old woman. Fairly took me in, he did, and I ought
to know his ways by now.” Billy pointed with a
grin to a very baggy parasol which leaned against the
sofa. " That’s part of the old woman’s outfit,” he
said.

” But what is it all about, Billy ? "

Billy sank his voice, as one who discusses great
secrets of State. “ I don’t mind telling you, sir, but
it should go no farther. It’s this case of the Crown
diamond.”

" What — the hundred - thousand - pound burg-
lary ? ”

" Yes, sir. They must get it back, sir. Why, we
had the Prime Minister and the Home Secretary
both sitting on that very sofa. Mr. Holmes was
very nice to them. He soon put them at their ease
and promised he would do all he could. Then there
is Lord Cantlemere ”

" Ah 1 ”

" Yes, sir ; you know what that means. He’s a
stiff ’un, sir, if I may say so. I can get along with
the Prime Minister, and I’ve nothing against the
Home Secretary, who seemed a civil, obliging sort of
man, but I can’t stand his lordship. Neither can
Mr. Holmes, sir. You see, he don’t believe in Mr.

THE MAZARIN STONE 77

Holmes and he was against employing him. He’d
rather he failed.”

“ And Mr. Holmes knows it ? ”

" Mr. Holmes always knows whatever there is to
know.”

” Well, we’ll hope he won’t fail and that Lord
Cantlemere will be confounded. But I say, Billy,
what is that curtain for across the window ? ”

" Mr. Holmes had it put up there three days ago.
We've got something funny behind it.”

Billy advanced and drew away the drapery which
screened the alcove of the bow window.

Dr. Watson could not restrain a cry of amaze-
ment. There was a facsimile of his old friend, dress-
ing-gown and all, the face turned three-quarters
towards the window and downwards, as though read-
ing an invisible book, while the body was sunk deep
in an arm-chair. Billy detached the head and held
it in the air.

“ We put it at different angles, so that it may
seem more life-like. I wouldn’t dare touch it if the
blind were not down. But when it’s up you can see
this from across the way.”

” We used something of the sort once before.”

" Before my time,” said Billy. He drew the win-
dow curtains apart and looked out into the street
“ There are folk who watch us from over yonder.
I can see a fellow now at the window. Have a look
for yourself.”

Watson had taken a step forward when the bed-
room door opened, and the long, thin form of Holmes
emerged, his face pale and drawn, but his step and
bearing as active as ever. With a single spring he

78 CASE-BOOK OF SHERLOCK HOLMES

was at the window, and had drawn the blind once
more.

" That will do, Billy," said he. " You were in
danger of your life then, my boy, and I can’t do with-
out you just yet. Well, Watson, it is good to see
you in your old quarters once again. You come at
a critical moment."

"So I gather.”

"You can go, Billy. That boy is a problem,
Watson. How far am I justified in allowing him to
be in danger ? ”

" Danger of what. Holmes ? "

" Of sudden death. I’m expecting something
this evening.”

" Expecting what ? ”

"To be murdered, Watson."

" No, no ; you are joking, Holmes 1 ”

“ Even my limited sense of humour could evolve
a better joke than that. But we may be comfortable
in the meantime, may we not ? Is alcohol per-
mitted? The gasogene and cigars are in the old
place. Let me see you once more in the customary
arm-chair. You have not, I hope, learned to despise
my pipe and my lamentable tobacco ? It has to
take the place of food these days.”

" But why not eat ? ”

" Because the facilities become refined when you
starve them. Why, surely, as a doctor, my dear
Watson, you must admit that what your digestion
gains in the way of blood supply is so much lost to the
brain. I am a brain, Watson. The rest of me is a mere
appendix. Therefore, it is the brain I must consider. "

" But this danger. Holmes ? ”

THE MAZARIN STONE 79

" Ah, yes ; in case it should come off, it would
perhaps be as well that you should burden your
memory with the name and address of the murderer.
You can give it to Scotland Yard, with my love and
a parting blessing. Sylvius is the name — Count
Negretto Sylvius. Write it down, man, write it
down 1 136 Moorside Gardens, N.W. Got it ? "

Watson's honest face was twitching with anxiety.
He knew only too well the immense risks taken by
Holmes, and was well aware that what he said was
more likely to be under-statement than exaggera-
tion. Watson was always the man of action, and
he rose to the occasion.

" Count me in. Holmes. I have nothing to do for
a day or two.”

“ Your morals don’t improve, Watson. You have
added fibbing to your other vices. You bear every
sign of the busy medical man, with calls on him
every hour.”

“ Not such important ones. But can’t you have
this fellow arrested ? ”

“ Yes, Watson, I could. That’s what worries
him so.”

” But why don’t you ? ”

” Because I don’t know where the diamond is.”

" Ah ! Billy told me — the missing Crown jewel 1 ”

" Yes, the great yellow Mazarin stone. I’ve cast
my net and I have my fish. But I have not got the
stone. What is the use of taking them ? We can
make the world a better place by laying them by the
heels. But that is not what I am out for. It’s the
stone I want.”

** And is this Count Sylvius one of your fish ? ”

80 CASE-BOOK OF SHERLOCK HOLMES

“ Yes, and he's a shark. He bites. The other is
Sam Merton, the boxer. Not a bad fellow, Sam,
but the Count has used him. Sam’s not a shark.
He is a great big silly bull-headed gudgeon. But he
is flopping about in my net all the same.”

“ Where is this Count Sylvius ? ”

" I’ve been at his very elbow all the morning.
You've seen me as an old lady, Watson. I was
never more convincing. He actually picked up my
parasol for me once. * By your leave, madame,’
said he — half-Italian, you know, and with the
Southern graces of manner when in the mood, but a
devil incarnate in the other mood. Life is full of
whimsical happenings, Watson.”

“It might have been tragedy.”

“ Well, perhaps it might. I followed him to old
Straubenzee’s workshop in the Minories. Strau-
benzee made the air-gun — a very pretty bit of work,
as I understand, and I rather fancy it is in the oppo-
site window at the present moment. Have you
seen the dummy ? Of course, Billy showed it to
you. Well, it may get a bullet through its beautiful
head at any moment. Ah, Billy, what is it ? ”

The boy had reappeared in the room with a card
upon a tray. Holmes glanced at it with raised
eyebrows and an amused smile.

" The man himself. I had hardly expected this.
Grasp the nettle, Watson ! A man of nerve. Pos-
sibly you have heard of his reputation as a shooter
of big game. It would indeed be a triumphant end-
ing to his excellent sporting record if he added me to
his bag. This is a proof that he feels my toe very
close behind his heel.”

THE MAZARIN STONE 81

“Send for the police.”

" I probably shall. But not just yet. Would
you glance carefully out of the window, Watson, and
see if anyone is hanging about in the street ? ”

Watson looked warily round the edge of the cur-
tain.

" Yes, there is one rough fellow near the door.”

" That will be Sam Merton — the faithful but
rather fatuous Sam. Where is this gentleman,
Billy ? ”

“ In the waiting-room, sir.”

" Show him up when I ring.”

" Yes, sir.”

“ If I am not in the room, show him in all the
same.”

" Yes, sir.”

Watson waited until the door was closed, and then
he turned earnestly to his companion.

" Look here, Holmes, this is simply impossible.
This is a desperate man, who sticks at nothing. He
may have come to murder you.”

“ I should not be surprised.”

“ I insist upon staying with you.”

” You would be horribly in the way.”

“ In his way ? ”

” No, my dear fellow — in my way.”

" Well, I can’t possibly leave you.”

“ Yes, you can, Watson. And you will, for you
have never failed to play the game* I am sure you
will play it to the end. This man has come for his
own purpose, but he may stay for mine.” Holmes
took out his notebook and scribbled a few lines.
“ Take a cab to Scotland Yard and give this to

82 CASE-BOOK OF SHERLOCK HOLMES

Youghal of the C.I.D. Come back with the police.
The fellow’s arrest will follow.".

" I’ll do that with joy."

" Before you return I may have just time enough
to find out where the stone is." He touched the
bell. " I think we will go out through the bedroom.
This second exit is exceedingly useful. I rather
want to see my shark without his seeing me, and I
have, as you will remember, my own way of doing it . "

It was, therefore, an empty room into which Billy,
a minute later, ushered Count Sylvius. The famous
game-shot, sportsman, and man-about-town was a
big, swarthy fellow, with a formidable dark mous-
tache, shading a cruel, thin-lipped mouth, and sur-
mounted by a long, curved nose, like the beak of an
eagle. He was well dressed, but his brilliant necktie,
shining pin, and glittering rings were flamboyant in
their effect. As the door closed behind him he
looked round him with fierce, startled eyes, like one
who suspects a trap at every turn. Then he gave a
violent start as he saw the impassive head and the
collar of the dressing-gown which projected above
the arm-chair in the window. At first his expression
was one of pure amazement. Then the light of a
horrible hope gleamed in his dark, murderous eyes.
He took one more glance round to see that there were
no witnesses, and then, on tiptoe, his thick stick
half raised, he approached the silent figure. He
was crouching for his final spring and blow when a
cool, sardonic voice greeted him from the open bed-
room door :

*’ Don’t break< it. Count ! Don’t break it I ”

The assassin staggered back, amazement in his

THE MAZARIN STONE 83

convulsed face. For an instant he half raised his
loaded cane once more, as if he would turn his vio-
lence from the effigy to the original ; but there was
something in that steady grey eye and mocking smile
which caused his hand to sink to his side.

“ It’s a pretty little thing,” said Holmes,
advancing towards the image. “Tavernier, the
French modeller, made it. He is as good at wax-
works as your friend Straubenzee is at air-guns.”

“ Air-guns, sir ! What do you mean ? ”

“ Put your hat and stick on the side-table. Thank
you ! Pray take a seat. Would you care to put
your revolver out also ? Oh, very good, if you
prefer to sit upon it. Your visit is really most
opportune, for I wanted badly to have a few minutes’
chat with you.”

The Count scowled, with heavy, threatening eye-
brows.

"I, too, wished to have some words with you.
Holmes. That is why I am here. I won’t deny
that I intended to assault you just now.”

Holmes swung his leg on the edge of the table.

“ I rather gathered that you had some idea of the
sort in your head,” said he. “ But why these per-
sonal attentions ? ”

“ Because you have gone out of your way to annoy
me. Because you have put your creatures upon my
track.”

“ My creatures ! I assure you no ! ”

“ Nonsense ! I have had them followed. Two
can play at that game. Holmes.”

“ It is a small point, Count Sylvius, but perhaps
you would kindly give me my prefix when you

84 CASE-BOOK OF SHERLOCK HOLMES

address me. You can understand that, with my
routine of work, I should find myself on familiar
terms with half the rogues’ gallery, and you will
agree that exceptions are invidious."

“Well, Mr. Holmes, then."

" Excellent 1 But I assure you you are mistaken
about my alleged agents.”

Count Sylvius laughed contemptuously.

“ Other people can observe as well as you. Yes-
terday there was an old sporting man. To-day it
was an elderly woman. They held me in view all
day.”

" Really, sir, you compliment me. Old Baron
Dowson said the night before he was hanged that
in my case what the law had gained the stage had
lost. And now you give my little impersonations
your kindly praise ! ”

“ It was you — you yourself ? "

Holmes shrugged his shoulders. “ You can see in
the comer the parasol which you so politely handed
to me in the Minories before you began to suspect.”

“ If I had known, you might never "

“ Have seen this humble home again. I was well
aware of it. We all have neglected opportunities to
deplore. As it happens, you did not know, so here
we are 1 ”

The Count’s knotted brows gathered more heavily
over his menacing eyes. " What you say only makes
the matter worse. It was not your agents, but your
play-acting, busybody self 1 You admit that you
have dogged me. Why ? ”

" Come now. Count. You used to shoot lions in
Algeria.”

THE MAZARIN STONE

85

" Well ? "

" But why ? "

“ Why ? The sport — the excitement — the dan-
ger ! ”

“ And, no doubt, to free the country from a
pest ? ’*

“ Exactly 1 ”

“ My reasons in a nutshell 1 ”

The Count sprang to his feet, and his hand in-
voluntarily moved back to his hip-pocket.

“ Sit down, sir, sit down I There was another,
more practical, reason. I want that yellow dia-
mond 1 ”

Count Sylvius lay back in his chair with an evil
smile.

“ Upon my word ! ” said he.

" You knew that I was after you for that. The
real reason why you are here to-night is to find out
how much I know about the matter and how far my
removal is absolutely essential. Well, I should say
that, from your point of view, it is absolutely essen-
tial, for I know all about it, save only one thing,
which you are about to tell me."

“ Oh, indeed I And, pray, what is this missing
fact ? ”

" Where the Crown diamond now is."

The Count looked sharply at his companion.
" Oh, you want to know that, do you ? How the
devil should I be able to tell you where it is ? "

" You can, and you will."

“ Indeed 1 "

" You can’t bluff me, Count Sylvius." Holmes’s
eyes, as he gazed at him, contracted and lightened

86 CASE-BOOK OF SHERLOCK HOLMES

until they were like two menacing points of steel.
" You are absolute plate-glass. I see to the very
back of your mind."

" Then, of course, you see where the diamond is ! ”
Holmes clapped his hands with amusement, and
then pointed a derisive finger. “ Then you do
know. You have admitted it I "

" I admit nothing.”

" Now, Count, if you will be reasonable, we can
do business. If not, you will get hurt.”

Count Sylvius threw up his eyes to the ceiling.
" And you talk about bluff 1 ” said he.

Holmes looked at him thoughtfully, like a master
chess-player who meditates his crowning move.
Then he threw open the table drawer and drew out
a squat notebook.

" Do you know what I keep in this book ? "

“ No, sir, I do not ! "

" You l "

" Me ? ”

" Yes, sir, you ! You are all here— every action
of your vile and dangerous life."

" Damn you, Holmes ! ” cried the Count, with
blazing eyes. “ There are limits to my patience 1 "
" It's all here. Count. The real facts as to the
death of old Mrs. Harold, who left you the Blymer
estate, which you so rapidly gambled away."

" You are dreaming 1 ”

" And the complete life history of Miss Minnie
Warrender."

" Tut ! You will make nothing of that ! ”

" Plenty more here, Count. Here is the robbery
in the train-de-luxe to the Riviera on February 13,

THE MAZARIN STONE 87

1892. Here is the forged cheque in the same year
on the Credit Lyonnais.”

” No ; you’re wrong there.”

*' Then I am right on the others ! Now, Count,
you are a card-player. When the other fellow has all
the trumps, it saves time to throw down your hand.”

" What has all this talk to do with the jewel of
which you spoke ? ”

“ Gently, Count. Restrain that eager mind !
Let me get to the points in my own humdrum
fashion. I have all this against you ; but, above
all, I have a clear case against both you and your
fighting bully in the case of the Crown diamond.”

“ Indeed ! ”

" I have the cabman who took you to Whitehall
and the cabman who brought you away. I have
the Commissionaire who saw you near the case. I
have Ikey Sanders, who refused to cut it up for you.
Ikey has peached, and the game is up.”

The veins stood out on the Count’s forehead. His
dark, hairy hands were clenched in a convulsion of
restrained emotion. He tried to speak, but the
words would not shape themselves.

** That’s the hand I play from,” said Holmes. “ I
put it all upon the table. But one card is missing.
It’s the King of Diamonds. I don't know where the
stone is.”

" You never shall know.”

“ No ? Now, be reasonable. Count. Consider
the situation. You are going to be locked up for
twenty years. So is Sam Merton. What good are
you going to get out of your diamond ? None in
the world. But if you hand it over — well. I’ll

88 CASE-BOOK OF SHERLOCK HOLMES

compound a felony. We don’t want you or Sam.
We want the stone. Give that up, and so far as I
am concerned you can go free so long as you behave
yourself in the future. If you make another slip —
well, it will be the last. But this time my com-
mission is to get the stone, not you.”

” But if I refuse ? ”

" Why, then — alas 1 — it must be you and not the
stone.”

Billy had appeared in answer to a ring.

” I think, Count, that it would be as well to have
your friend Sam at this conference. After ail, his
interests should be represented. Billy, you will see
a large and ugly gentleman outside the front door.
Ask him to come up.”

” If he won’t come, sir ? ”

“ No violence, Billy. Don’t be rough with him.
If you tell him that Count Sylvius wants him he will
certainly come.”

” What are you going to do now ? ” asked the
Count, as Billy disappeared.

” My friend Watson was with me just now. I told
him that I had a shark and a gudgeon in my net ;
now I am drawing the net and up they come
together.”

The Count had risen from his chair, and his hand
was behind his back. Holmes held something half
protruding from the pocket of his dressing-gown.

“ You won’t die in your bed, Holmes.”

” I have often had the same idea. Does it matter
very much ? After all, Count, your own exit is more
likely to be perpendicular than horizontal. But
these anticipations of the future are morbid. Why

THE MAZARIN STONE 89

not give ourselves up to the unrestrained enjoyment
of the present ? ”

A sudden wild-beast light sprang up in the dark,
menacing eyes of the master criminal. Holmes's
figure seemed to grow taller as he grew tense and
ready.

"It is no use your fingering your revolver, my
friend,” he said, in a quiet voice. " You know per-
fectly well that you dare not use it, even if I gave
you time to draw it. Nasty, noisy things, revolvers,
Count. Better stick to air-guns. Ah ! I think I
hear the fairy footstep of your estimable partner.
Good day, Mr. Merton. Rather dull in the street,
is it not ? ”

The prizerfighter, a heavily built young man with
a stupid, obstinate, slab-sided face, stood awkwardly
at the door, looking about him with a puzzled expres-
sion. Holmes’s debonair manner was a new experi-
ence, and though he vaguely felt that it was hostile,
he did not know how to counter it. He turned to
his more astute comrade for help.

“ What’s the game now, Count ? What's this
fellow want ? What’s up ? ” His voice was deep
and raucous.

The Count shrugged his shoulders and it was
Holmes who answered.

" If I may put it in a nutshell, Mr. Merton, I
should say it was all up.”

The boxer still addressed his remarks to his
associate.

" Is this cove trying to be funny, or what ? I’m
not in the funny mood myself.”

" No, I expect not,” said Holmes. " I think I

go CASE-BOOK OF SHERLOCK HOLMES

can promise you that you will feel even less humor-
ous as the evening advances. Now, look here.
Count Sylvius. I’m a busy man and I can’t waste
time. I’m going into that bedroom. Pray make
yourselves quite at home in my absence. You can
explain to your friend how the matter lies without
the restraint of my presence. I shall try over the
Hoffmann Barcarolle upon my violin. In five
minutes I shall return for your final answer. You
quite grasp the alternative, do you not ? Shall we
take you, or shall we have the stone ? ”

Holmes withdrew, picking up his violin from the
comer as he passed. A few moments later the long-
drawn, wailing notes of that most haunting of tunes
came faintly through the closed door of the bedroom.

" What is it, then ? ” asked Merton anxiously, as
his companion turned to him. “ Does he know
about the stone ? ”

“ He knows a damned sight too much about it.
I’m not sure that he doesn't know all about it.”

” Good Lord ! ” The boxer’s sallow face turned
a shade whiter.

“ Ikey Sanders has split on us.”

“ He has, has he ? I’ll do him down a thick 'un
for that if I swing for it.”

" That won’t help us much. We’ve got to make
up our minds what to do.”

“ Half a mo’,” said the boxer, looking suspiciously
at the bedroom door. “ He’s a leary cove that wants
watching. I suppose he’s not listening ? ”

“ How can he be listening with that music going ? ”

“ That’s right. Maybe somebody’s behind a cur-
tain. Too many curtains in this room.” As he

THE MAZARIN STONE

9 *

looked round he suddenly saw for the fijtet time the
effigy in the window, and stood staring and pointing,
too amazed for words.

“ Tut ! it’s only a dummy,” said the Count.

“ A fake, is it ? Well, strike me 1 Madame
Tussaud ain’t in it. It’s the living spit of him,
gown and all. But them curtains. Count ! ”

“ Oh, confound the curtains ! We are wasting our
time, and there is none too much. He can lag us
over this stone.”

" The deuce he can ! ”

“ But he’ll let us slip if we only tell him where the
swag is.”

“ What I Give it up ? Give up a hundred thou-
sand quid ? ”

” It’s one or the other.”

Merton scratched his short-cropped pate.

” He’s alone in there. Let’s do him in. If his
light were out we should have nothing to fear.”

The Count shook his head.

” He is armed and ready. If we shot him we
could hardly get away in a place like this. Besides,
it’s likely enough that the police know whatever
evidence he has got. Hallo ! What was that ? ”

There was a vague sound which seemed to come
from the window. Both men sprang round, but all
was quiet. Save for the one strange figure seated in
the chair, the room was certainly empty.

” Something in the street,” said Merton. " Now
look here, guv’nor, you’ve got the brains. Surely
you can think a way out of it. If slugging is no use
then it's up to you.”

** I’ve fooled better men than he,” the Count

92 CASE-BOOK OF SHERLOCK HOLMES

answered. " The stone is here in my secret pocket.
I take no chances leaving it about. It can be out
of England to-night and cut into four pieces in
Amsterdam before Sunday. He knows nothing
of Van Seddar.”

" I thought Van Seddar was going next week."

“ He was. But now he must get off by the next
boat. One or other of us must slip round with the
stone to Lime Street and tell him.”

“ But the false bottom ain’t ready.”

** Well, he must take it as it is and chance it.
There’s not a moment to lose.” Again, with the
sense of danger which becomes an instinct with the
sportsman, he paused and looked hard at the window.
Yes, it was surely from the street that the faint
sound had come.

“ As to Holmes,” he continued, “ we can fool him
easily enough. You see, the damned fool won’t
arrest us if he can get the stone. Well, we’ll promise
him the stone. We’ll put him on the wrong track
about it, and before he finds that it is the wrong
track it will be in Holland and we out of the
country.”

" That sounds good to me I ” cried Sam Merton,
with a grin.

" You go on and tell the Dutchman to get a move
on him. I’ll see this sucker and fill him up with a
bogus confession. I’ll tell him that the stone is in
Liverpool. Confound that whining music ; it gets
on my nerves ! By the time he finds it isn’t in
Liverpool it will be in quarters and we on the blue
water. Come back here, out of a line with that key-
hole. Here is the stone.”

THE MAZARIN STONE

93

” I wonder you dare carry it.”

*' Where could I have it safer ? If we could take
it out of Whitehall someone else could surely take it
out of my lodgings.”

" Let’s have a look at it.”

Count Sylvius cast a somewhat unflattering
glance at his associate, and disregarded the un-
washed hand which was extended towards him.

“ What — d’ye think I’m going to snatch it off
you ? See here, mister, I’m getting a bit tired of
your ways.”

“ Well, well ; no offence, Sam. We can't afford
to quarrel. Come over to the window if you want
to see the beauty properly. Now hold it to the
light! Here!”

” Thank you 1 ”

With a single spring Holmes had leaped from the
dummy’s chair and had grasped the precious jewel.
He held it now in one hand, while his other pointed
a revolver at the Count’s head. The two villains
staggered back in utter amazement. Before they
had recovered Holmes had pressed the electric bell.

” No violence, gentlemen — no violence, I beg of
you ! Consider the furniture 1 It must be very
clear to you that your position is an impossible one.
The police are waiting below.”

The Count’s bewilderment overmastered his rage
and fear.

“ But how the deuc e ? ” he gasped.

” Your surprise is very natural. You are not
aware that a second door from my bedroom leads
behind that curtain. I fancied that you must have
heard me when I displaced the figure, but luck was

94 CASE-BOOK OF SHERLOCK HOLMES

on my side. It gave me a chance of listening to
your racy conversation which would have been pain-
fully constrained had you been aware of my pres-
ence."

The Count gave a gesture of resignation.

** We give you best, Holmes. I believe you are
the devil himself.”

" Not far from him, at any rate," Holmes an-
swered, with a polite smile.

Sam Merton's slow intellect had only gradually
appreciated the situation. Now, as the sound of
heavy steps came from the stairs outside, he broke
silence at last.

" A fair cop 1 " said he. " But, I say, what
about that bloomin’ fiddle l I hear it yet."

“ Tut, tut ! ” Holmes answered. " You are per-
fectly right. Let it play ! These modern gramo-
phones are a remarkable invention."

There was an inrush of police, the handcuffs
clicked and the criminals were led to the waiting
cab. Watson lingered with Holmes, congratulating
him upon this fresh leaf added to his laurels. Once
more their conversation was interrupted by the
imperturbable Billy with his card-tray.

" Lord Cantlemere, sir.”

“ Show him up, Billy. This is the eminent peer
who represents the very highest interests,” said
Holmes. " He is an excellent and loyal person, but
rather of the old regime. Shall we make him un-
bend ? Dare we venture upon a slight liberty ?
He knows, we may conjecture, nothing of what has
occurred.”

The door opened to admit a thin, austere figure

THE MAZARIN STONE

95

with a hatchet face and drooping mid- Victorian whis-
kers of a glossy blackness which hardly corresponded
with the rounded shoulders and feeble gait. Holmes
advanced affably, and shook an unresponsive hand.

" How-do-you-do, Lord Cantlemere ? It is chilly,
for the time of year, but rather warm indoors. May
I take your overcoat ? ”

“ No, I thank you ; I will not take it off.”

Holmes laid his hand insistently upon the sleeve.

'* Pray allow me I My friend Dr. Watson would
assure you that these changes of temperature are
most insidious.”

His lordship shook himself free with some impa-
tience.

" I am quite comfortable, sir. I have no need to
stay. I have simply looked in to know how your
self-appointed task was progressing.”

" It is difficult — very difficult.”

“ I feared that you would find it so.”

There was a distinct sneer in the old courtier’s
words and manner.

" Every man finds his limitations, Mr. Holmes,
but at least it cures us of the weakness of self-satis-
faction.”

** Yes, sir, I have been much perplexed.”

” No doubt.”

** Especially upon one point. Possibly you could
help me upon it ? ”

“ You apply for my advice rather late in the day.
I thought that you had your own all-sufficient
methods. Still, I am ready to help you.”

'' You see, Lord Cantlemere, we can no doubt
frame a case against the actual thieves.”

96 CASE-BOOK OF SHERLOCK HOLMES

“ When you have caught them.”

" Exactly. But the question is — how shall we
proceed against the receiver ? ”

“ Is this not rather premature ? ”

” It is as well to have our plans ready. Now,
what would you regard as final evidence against
the receiver ? ”

“ The actual possession of the stone.”

*' You would arrest him upon that ? ”

“Most undoubtedly.”

Holmes seldom laughed, but he got as near it as
his old friend Watson could remember.

“ In that case, my dear sir, I shall be under the
painful necessity of advising your arrest.”

Lord Cantlemere was very angry. Some of the
ancient fires flickered up into his sallow cheeks.

“ You take a great liberty, Mr. Holmes. In fifty
years of official life I cannot recall such a case. I
am a busy man, sir, engaged upon important affairs,
and I have no time or taste for foolish jokes. I may
tell you frankly, sir, that I have never been a be-
liever in your powers, and that I have always been
of the opinion that the matter was far safer in the
hands of the regular police force. Your conduct
confirms all my conclusions. I have the honour,
sir, to wish you good evening.”

Holmes had swiftly changed his position and was
between the peer and the door.

“ One moment, sir,” said he. “ To actually go off
with the Mazarin stone would be a more serious
offence than to be found in temporary possession
of it.”

" Sir, this is intolerable ! Let me pass.”

THE MAZARIN STONE

97

" Put your hand in the right-hand pocket of your
overcoat."

“ What do you mean, sir ? "

" Come — come ; do what I ask."

An instant later the amazed peer was standing,
blinking and stammering, with the great yellow stone
on his shaking palm.

" What ! What ! How is this, Mr. Holmes ? ”

" Too bad, Lord Cantlemere, too bad ! " cried
Holmes. ** My old friend here will tell you that I
have an impish habit of practical joking. Also that
I can never resist a dramatic situation. I took the
liberty — the very great liberty, I admit — of putting
the stone into your pocket at the beginning of our
interview.”

The old peer stared from the stone to thte smiling
face before him.

" Sir, I am bewildered. But — yes — it is indeed
the Mazarin stone. We are greatly your debtors,
Mr. Holmes. Your sense of humour may, as you
admit, be somewhat perverted, and its exhibition
remarkably untimely, but at least I withdraw any
reflection I have made upon your amazing pro-
fessional powers. But how ”

" The case is but half finished ; the details can
wait. No doubt, Lord Cantlemere, your pleasure in
telling of this successful result in the exalted circle
to which you return will be some small atonement
for my practical joke. Billy, you will show his lord-
ship out, and tell Mrs. Hudson that I should be
glaM if she would send up dinner for two as soon as
possible.”

IV

THE ADVENTURE OF THE THREE GABLES

1 DON'T think that any of my adventures with
Mr. Sherlock Holmes opened quite so abruptly,
or so dramatically, as that which I associate with
The Three Gables. I had not seen Holmes for some
days, and had no idea of the new channel into which
his activities had been directed. . He was in a chatty
mood that morning, however, and had just settled
me into the well-worn low arm-chair on one side of
the fire, while he had curled down with his pipe in his
mouth upon the opposite chair, when our visitor
arrived. If I had said that a mad bull had arrived,
it would give a clearer impression of what occurred.

The door had flown open and a huge negro had
burst into the room. He would have been a comic
figure if he had not been terrific, for he was dressed
in a very loud grey check suit with a flowing salmon-
coloured tie. His broad face and flattened nose were
thrust forward, as his sullen dark eyes, with a
smouldering gleam of malice in them, turned from
one of us to the other.

“ Which of you genelmen is Masser Holmes ? ” he
asked.

Holmes raised his pipe with a languid smile.

“ Oh ! it’s you, is it ? ” said our visitor, coming
with an unpleasant, stealthy step round the angle of

98

THE THREE GABLES 99

the table. " See here, Masser Holmes, you keep your
hands out of other folks’ business. Leave folks to
manage their own affairs. Got that, Masser Holmes ? ”

" Keep on talking,” said Holmes. “ It’s fine.”

" Oh ! it’s fine, is it ? ” growled the savage. " It
won’t be so damn fine if I have to trim you up a bit.
I've handled your kind before now, and they didn’t
look fine when I was through with them. Look at
that, Masser Holmes I ”

He swung a huge knotted lump of a fist under my
friend’s nose. Holmes examined it closely with an
air of great interest. “ Were you bom so ? ” he
asked. “ Or did it come by degrees ? ”

It may have been the icy coolness of my friend, or
it may have been the slight clatter which I made as
I picked up the poker. In any case, our visitor’s
manner became less flamboyant.

” Well, I’ve given you fair warnin',” said he.
“ I've a friend that’s interested out Harrow way —
you know what I'm meaning — and he don’t intend
to have no buttin' in by you. Got that ? You
ain’t the law, and I ain’t the law either, and if you
come in I’ll be on hand also. Don’t you forget it.”

” I’ve wanted to meet you for some time,” said
Holmes. " I won’t ask you to sit down, for I don't
like the smell of you, but aren’t you Steve Dixie, the
bruiser ? ”

“ That’s my name, Masser Holmes, and you’ll get
put through it for sure if you give me any lip.”

" It is certainly the last thing you need,” said
Holmes, staring at our visitor’s hideous mouth.
“ But it was the killing of young Perkins outside the
Holboro Bar What 1 you're not going ? ”

100 CASE-BOOK OF SHERLOCK HOLMES

The negro had sprung back, and his face was
leaden. “ I won’t listen to no such talk,” said he
" What have I to do with this 'ere Perkins, Masser
Holmes ? I was trainin’ at the Bull Ring in Bir-
mingham when this boy done gone get into trouble.”

** Yes, you’ll tell the magistrate about it, Steve,”
said Holmes. ” I’ve been watching you and Barney
Stockdale "

*' So help me the Lord ! Masser Holmes "

" That’s enough. Get out of it. I’ll pick you up
when I want you.”

Good momin', Masser Holmes. I hope there
ain't no hard feelin's about this 'ere visit ? ”

" There will be unless you tell me who sent you. ”

" Why, there ain’t no secret about that, Masser
Holmes. It was that same genelman that you have
just done gone mention.”

" And who set him on to it ? ”

” S’elp me. I don’t know, Masser Holmes. He
just say, * Steve, you go see Mr. Holmes, and tell him
his life ain’t safe if he go down Harrow way.' That’s
the whole truth.”

Without waiting for any further questioning, our
visitor bolted out of the room almost as precipitately
as he had entered. Holmes knocked out the ashes
of his pipe with a quiet chuckle.

“ I am glad you were not forced to break his
woolly head, Watson. I observed your manoeuvres
with the poker. But he is really rather a harmless
fellow, a great muscular, foolish, blustering baby,
and easily cowed, as you have seen. He is one of the
Spencer John gang and has taken part in some dirty
work of late which I may clear up when I have time.

THE THREE GABLES

ioz

His immediate principal, Barney, is a more astute
person. They specialize in assaults, intimidation,
and the like. What 1 want to know is, who is at the
back of them on this particular occasion ? ”

"But why do they want to intimidate you ? ”

" It is this Harrow Weald case. It decides me
to look into the matter, for if it is worth' anyone’s
while to take so much trouble, there must be some-
thing in it.”

” But what is it ? ” .

" I was going to tell you when we had this comic
interlude. Here is Mrs. Maberley’s note. If you
care to come with me we will wire her and go out at
once.”

Dear Mr. Sherlock Holmes, (I read) —

I have had a succession of strange incidents occur
to me in connection with this house, and I should
much value your advice. You would find me -at
home any time to-morrow. The house is within a
short walk of the Weald Station. I believe that my
late husband, Mortimer Maberley, was one of your
early clients.

Yours faithfully,

Mary Maberley.

The address was " The Three Gables, Harrow
Weald.”

” So that’s that 1 ” said Holmes. " And now, if
you can spare the time, Watson, we will get upon our
way.”

A short railway journey, and a shorter drive,
brought us to the house, a brick and timber villa,

102 CASE-BOOK OF SHERLOCK HOLMES

standing in its own acre of undeveloped grassland.
Three small projections above the upper windows
made a feeble attempt to justify its name. Behind
was a grove of melancholy, half-grown pines, and the
whole aspect of the place was poor and depressing.
None the less, we found the house to be well furn-
ished, and the lady who received us was a most
engaging elderly person, who bore every mark of
refinement and culture.

” I remember your husband well, madam,” said
Holmes, “ though it is some years since he used my
services in some trifling matter.”

” Probably you would be more familiar with the
name of my son Douglas.”

Holmes looked at her with great interest.

“ Dear me 1 Are you the mother of Douglas
Maberley ? I knew him slightly. But, of course,
all London knew him. What a magnificent creature
he was 1 Where is he now ? ”

” Dead, Mr. Holmes, dead ! He was Attach^ at
Rome, and he died there of pneumonia last month.”

" I am sorry. One could not connect death with
such a man. I have never known anyone so vitally
alive. He lived intensely — every fibre of him ! ”

” Too intensely, Mr. Holmes. That was the ruin
of him. You remember him as he was — debonair
and splendid. You did not see the moody, morose,
brooding creature into which he developed. His
heart was broken. In a single month I seemed to see
my ga lant boy turn into a worn-out cynical man.”
” A love affair — a woman ? ”

“ Or a fiend. Well, it was not to talk of my poor
lad that I asked you to come, Mr. Holmes.”

THE THREE GABLES 103

" Dr. Watson and I are at your service."

“ There have been some very strange happenings.
I have been in this house more than a year now, and
as I wished to lead a retired life I have seen little of
my neighbours. Three days ago I had a call from
a man who said that he was a house agent. He said
that this house would exactly suit a client of his and
that if I would part with it money would be no
object. It seemed to me very strange, as there are
several empty houses on the market which appear
to be equally eligible, but naturally I was interested
in what he said. I therefore named a price which
was five hundred pounds more than I gave. He at
once closed with the offer, but added that his client
desired to buy the furniture as well and would I put
a price upon it. Some of this furniture is from my
old home, and it is, as you see, very good, so that I
named a good round sum. To this also he at once
agreed. I had always wanted to travel, and the
bargain was so good a one that it really seemed that
I should be my own mistress for the rest of my life.

“ Yesterday the man arrived with the agreement
all drawn out. Luckily I showed it to Mr. Sutro,
my lawyer, who lives in Harrow. He said to me,
‘ This is a very strange document. Are you aware
that if you sign it you could not legally take anything
out of the house — not even your own private posses-
sions ? ’ When the man came again in the evening
I pointed this out, and I said that I meant only to
sell the furniture.

“ * No, no ; everything,' said he.

** ' But my clothes ? My jewels ? *

" ' Well, well, some concession might be made for

104 CASE-BOOK OF SHERLOCK HOLMES

your personal effects. But nothing shall go out of
the house unchecked. My client is a very liberal
man, but he has his fads and his own way of doing
things. It is everything or nothing with him.’

" ' Then it must be nothing,’ said I. And there
the matter was left, but the whole thing seemed to
me to be so unusual that I thought ”

Here we had a very extraordinary interruption.

Holmes raised his hand for silence. Then he
strode across the room, flung open the door, and
dragged in a great gaunt woman whom he had
seized by the shoulder. She entered with ungainly
struggles, like some huge awkward chicken, torn
squawking out of its coop.

" Leave me alone ! What are you a-doin’ of ? ”
she screeched.

“ Why, Susan, what is this ? ”

“ Well, ma’am, I was cornin’ in to ask if the visi-
tors was stayin’ for lunch when this man jumped out
at me."

" I have been listening to her for the last five
minutes, but did not wish to interrupt your most
interesting narrative. Just a little wheezy, Susan,
are you not ? You breathe too heavily for that kind
of work."

Susan turned a sulky but amazed face upon her
captor. “ Who be you, anyhow, and what right
have you a-pullin’ me about like this ? "

“ It was mefiely that I wished to ask a question in
your presence. Did you, Mrs. Maberley, mention to
anyone that you were going to write to me and
consult me ? ”

" No, Mr. Holmes, I did not."

THE THREE GABLES 105

'* Who posted your letter ? "

'* Susan did.”

” Exactly. Now, Susan, to whom was it that
you wrote or sent a message to say that your mistress
was asking advice from me ? ”

'* It’s a lie. I sent no message.”

" Now, Susan, wheezy people may not live long,
you know. It's a wicked thing to tell fibs. Whom
did you tell ? ”

” Susan 1 ” cried her mistress, ” I believe you are a
bad, treacherous woman. I remember now that I
saw you speaking to someone over the hedge.”

” That was my own business,” said the woman
sullenly.

" Suppose I tell you that it was Barney Stockdale
to whom you spoke ? ” said Holmes.

” Well, if you know, what do you want to ask
for ? ”

“ I was not sure, but I know now. Well now,
Susan, it will be worth ten pounds to you if you will
tell me who is at the back of Barney.”

" Someone that could lay down a thousand pounds
for every ten you have in the world .”

“ So, a rich man ? No ; you smiled — a rich
woman. Now we have got so far, you may as well
give the name and earn the tenner.”

” I'll see you in hell first.”

“ Oh, Susan ! Language 1 ”

” I am clearing out of here. I’ve had enough of
you all. I'll send for my box to-morrow.” She
flounced for the door.

" Good-bye, Susan. Paregoric is the stuff. . . .
Now,” he continued, turning suddenly from lively

xo 6 CASE-BOOK OF SHERLOCK HOLMES

to severe when the door had closed behind the
flushed and angry woman, “ this gang means busi-
ness. Look how close they play the game. Your
letter to me had the 10 p.m. postmark. And yet
Susan passes the word to Barney. Barney has
time to go to his employer and get instructions ; he
or she — I incline to the latter from Susan’s grin when
she thought I had blundered — forms a plan. Black
Steve is called in, and I am warned off by eleven
o'clock next morning. That's quick work, you
know.”

" But what do they want ? ”

" Yes, that's the question. Who had the house
before you ? ”

“ A retired sea captain, called Ferguson.”

" Anything remarkable about him ? ”

" Not that ever I heard of.”

“ I was wondering whether he could have buried
something. Of course, when people bury treasure
nowadays they do it in the Post Office bank. But
there are always some lunatics about. It would be
a dull world without them. At first I thought of
some buried valuable. But why, in that case,
should they want your furniture ? You don't
happen to have a Raphael or a first folio Shakespeare
without knowing it ? ”

*' No, I don’t think I have anything rarer than a
Crown Derby tea-set.”

“ That would hardly justify all this mystery. Be-
sides, why should they not openly state what they
want ? If they covet your tea-set, they can surely
offer a price for it without buying you out, lock,
stock, and barrel. No, as I read it, there is some-

THE THREE GABLES

107

thing which you do not know that you have, and
which you would not give up if you did know."

“ That is how I read it," said I.

" Dr. Watson agrees, so that settles it."

"Well, Mr. Holmes, what can it be? ’’

" Let us see whether by this purely mental analysis
we can get it to a finer point. You have been in this
house a year."

" Nearly two."

" All the better. During this long period no one
wants anything from you. Now suddenly within
three or four days you have urgent demands. What
would you gather from that ? "

" It can only mean,” said I, " that the object,
whatever it may be, has only just come into the
house.”

" Settled once again,” said Holmes. " Now, Mrs.
Maberley, has any object just arrived ? "

" No ; I have bought nothing new this year."

" Indeed ! That is very remarkable. Well, I
think we had best let matters develop a little further
until we have clearer data. Is that lawyer of yours
a capable man ? "

" Mr. Sutro is most capable."

" Have you another maid, or was the fair Susan,
who has just banged your front door, alone ? "

" I have a young girl.”

" Try and get Sutro to spend a night or two in the
house. You might possibly want protection.”

“ Against whom ? ”

" Who knows ? The matter is certainly obscure.
If I can’t find what they are after, I must approach
the matter from the other end, and try to get at the

xo8 CASE-BOOK OF SHERLOCK HOLMES

principal. Did this house-agent man give any
address ? **

" Simply his card and occupation. Haines- John-
son, Auctioneer and Valuer."

** I don't think we shall find him in the Directory.
Honest business men don't conceal their place of
business. Well, you will let me know any fresh
development. I have taken up your case, and you
may rely upon it that I shall see it through."

As we passed through the hall Holmes’s eyes,
which missed nothing, lighted upon several trunks
and cases which were piled in the comer. The
labels shone out upon them.

Milano.’ * Lucerne.’ These are from Italy.”

" They are poor Douglas’s things."

" You have not unpacked them ? How long have
you had them ? "

“ They arrived last week.”

" But you said — why, surely this might be the
missing link. How do we know that there is not
something of value there? ’’

" There could not possibly be, Mr. Holmes. Poor
Douglas had only his pay and a small annuity.
What could he have of value ? ”

Holmes was lost in thought.

“ Delay no longer, Mrs. Maberley," he said at last.
" Have these things taken upstairs to your bedroom.
Examine them as soon as possible and see what they
contain. I will come to-morrow and hear your
report.”

It was quite evident that The Three Gables was
under very close surveillance, for as we came round
the high hedge at the end of the lane there was the

THE THREE GABLES

109

negro prize-fighter standing in the shadow. We
came on him quite suddenly, and a grim and menac-
ing figure he looked in that lonely place. Holmes
clapped his hand to his pocket.

“ Lookin’ for your gun, Masser Holmes ? ”

" No; for my scent-bottle, Steve.”

" You are funny, Masser Holmes, ain’t you? "

" It won’t be funny for you, Steve, if I get after
you. I gave you fair warning this morning.”

" Well, Masser Holmes, I done gone think over
what you said, and I don't want no more talk about
that affair of Masser Perkins. S’pose I can help you,
Masser Holmes, I will.”

" Well, then, tell me who is behind you on this
job ? ”

“ So help me the Lord! Masser Holmes, I told
you the truth before. I don't know. My boss Bar-
ney gives me orders and that’s all.”

" Well, just bear in mind, Steve, that the lady in
that house, and everything under that roof, is under
my protection. Don't you forget it.”

“ All right, Masser Holmes. I’ll remember."

” I’ve got him thoroughly frightened for his own
skin, Watson,” Holmes remarked as we walked on.
” I think he would double-cross his employer if he
knew who he was. It was lucky I had some know-
ledge of the Spencer John crowd, and that Steve was
one of them. Now, Watson, this is a case for Lang-
dale Pike, and I am going to see him now. When I
get back I may be clearer in the matter."

I saw no more of Holmes during the day, but I
could well imagine how he spent it for Langdale Pike
was his human book of reference, upon all matters

no CASE-BOOK OF SHERLOCK HOLMES

of social scandal. This strange, languid creature
spent his waking hours in the bow window of a St.
James’s Street club, and was the receiving-station,
as well as the transmitter, for all the gossip of the
Metropolis. He made, it was said, a four-figure in-
come by the paragraphs which he contributed every
week to the garbage papers which cater for an in-
quisitive public. If ever, far down in the turbid
depths of London life, there was some strange swirl
or eddy, it was marked with automatic exactness
by this human dial upon the surface. Holmes dis-
creetly helped Langdale to knowledge, and on occa-
sion was helped in turn.

When I met my friend in his room early next
morning, I was conscious from his bearing that all
was well, but none the less a most unpleasant sur-
prise was awaiting us. It took the shape of the
following telegram :

“ Please come out at once. Client’s house burgled
in the night. Police in possession.

“ Sutro.”

Holmes whistled. “ The drama has come to a
crisis, and quicker than I had expected. There is
a great driving-power at the back of this business,
Watson, which does not surprise me after what I
have heard. This Sutro, of course, is her lawyer. I
made a mistake, I fear, in not asking you to spend
the night on guard. This fellow has clearly proved
a broken reed. Well, there is nothing for it but
another journey to Harrow Weald.”

We found The Three Gables a very different estab-

Ill

THE THREE GABLES

lishment to the orderly household of the previous
day. A small group of idlers had assembled at the
garden gate, while a couple of constables were
examining the windows and the geranium beds.
Within we met a grey old gentleman, who introduced
himself as the lawyer, together with a bustling, rubi-
cund Inspector, who greeted Holmes as an old
friend.

“ Well, Mr. Holmes, no chance for you in this
case, I'm afraid. Just a common, ordinary burglary,
and well within the capacity of the poor old police.
No experts need apply."

“ I am sure the case is in very good hands,"
said Holmes. " Merely a common burglary, you
say? "

** Quite so. We know pretty well who the men
are and where to find them. It is that gang of
Barney Stockdale, with the big nigger in it —
they've been seen about here.”

** Excellent I What did they get ? "

“ Well, they don’t seem to have got much. Mrs.

Maberley was chloroformed and the house was

Ah 1 here is the lady herself.”

Our friend of yesterday, looking very pale and ill,
had entered the room, leaning upon a little maid-
servant.

" You gave me good advice, Mr. Holmes,” said
she, smiling ruefully. " Alas, I did not take it i I
did not wish to trouble Mr. Sutro, and so I was un-
protected.”

" I only heard of it this morning," the lawyer
explained.

“ Mr. Holmes advised me to have some friend in

H2 CASE-BOOK OF SHERLOCK HOLMES

the house. I neglected his advice, and I have paid
for it."

" You look wretchedly ill,” said Holmes. “ Per-
haps you are hardly equal to telling me what
occurred."

" It is all here," said the Inspector, tapping a
bulky notebook.

" Still, if the lady is not too exhausted "

" There is really so little to tell. I have no doubt
that wicked Susan had planned an entrance for
them. They must have known the house to an inch.
I was conscious for a moment of the chloroform rag
which was thrust over my mouth, but I have no
notion how long I may have been senseless. When
I woke, one man was at the bedside and another was
rising with a bundle in his hand from among my son’s
baggage, which was partially opened and littered
over the floor. Before he could get away I sprang
up and seized him.”

'* You took a big risk,” said the Inspector.

“ I clung to him, but he shook me off, and the
other may have struck me, for I can remember no
more. Mary the maid heard the noise and began
screaming out of the window. That brought the
police, but the rascals had got away.”

“ What did they take ? ”

“ Well, I don’t think there is anything of value miss-
ing. 1 am sure there was nothing in my son’s trunks. ' ’

“ Did the men leave no clue ? ”

** There was one sheet of paper which I may have
torn from the man that I grasped. It was lying all
crumpled on the floor. It is in my son’s hand-
writing."

THE THREE GABLES 113

" Which means that it is not of much use/’ said
the Inspector. " Now if it had been in the bur-
glar's ”

“ Exactly,” said Holmes. ** What rugged com-
mon sense ! None the less, I should be curious to
see it.”

The Inspector drew a folded sheet of foolscap
from his pocket-book.

“ I never pass anything, however trifling,” said
he, with some pomposity. “ That is my advice to
you, Mr. Holmes. In twenty-five years’ experience
I have learned my lesson. There is always the
chance of finger-marks or something.”

Holmes inspected the sheet of paper.

” What do you make of it. Inspector ? ”

" Seems to be the end of some queer novel, so far
as I can see.”

“ It may certainly prove to be the end of a queer
tale,” said Holmes. ” You have noticed the number
on the top of the page. It is two hundred and forty-
five. Where are the odd two hundred and forty-
four pages ? ”

” Well, I suppose the burglars got those. Much
good may it do them ! ”

" It seems a queer thing to break into a house in
order to steal such papers as that. Does it suggest
anything to you, Inspector ? ”

" Yes, sir ; it suggests that in their huriy the
rascals just grabbed at what came first to hand. I
wish them joy of what they got.”

” Why should they go to my son’s things ? "
asked Mrs. Maberley.

” Well, they found nothing valuable downstairs.

XX4 CASE-BOOK OF SHERLOCK HOLMES

so they tried their luck upstairs. That is how I read
it. What do you make of it, Mr. Holmes ? "

" I must think it over, Inspector. Come to the
window, Watson.” Then, as we stood together, he
read over the fragment of paper. It began in the
middle of a sentence and ran like this:

". . . face bled considerably from the cuts and
blows, but it was nothing to the bleeding of his heart
as he saw that lovely face, the face for which he had
been prepared to sacrifice his very life, looking out
at his agony and humiliation. She smiled — yes, by
Heaven 1 she smiled, like the heartless fiend she was,
as he looked up at her. It was at that moment that
love died and hate was bom. Man must live for
something. If it is not for your embrace, my lady,
then it shall surely be for your undoing and my com-
plete revenge.”

*' Queer grammar 1 ” said Holmes, with a smile,
as he handed the paper back to the Inspector. “ Did
you notice how the * he ’ suddenly changed to ‘ my.’
The writer was so carried away by his own story that
he imagined himself at the supreme moment to be
the hero.”

” It seemed mighty poor stuff,” said the Inspector,
as he replaced it in his book. “ What 1 are you off,
Mr. Holmes ? ”

" I don’t think there is anything more for me to
do now that the case is in such capable hands. By
the way, Mrs. Maberley, did you say you wished to
travel ? ”

*' It has always been my dream, Mr. Holmes.”

THE THREE GABLES X15

“ Where would you like to go— Cairo, Madeira,
the Riviera ? "

“ Oh i if I had the money I would go round the
world.”

" Quite so. Round the world. Well, good morn-
ing. I may drop you a line in the evening.” As
we passed the window I caught a glimpse of the In-
spector’s smile and shake of the head. “ These
clever fellows have always a touch of madness.”
That was what I read in the Inspector’s smile.

" Now, Watson, we are at the last lap of our little
journey,” said Holmes, when we were back in the
roar of Central London once more. " I think we had
best clear the matter up at once, and it would be
well that you should come with me, for it is safer to
have a witness when you are dealing with such a lady
as Isadora Klein.”

We had taken a cab and were speeding to some
address in Grosvenor Square. Holmes had been
sunk in thought, but he roused himself suddenly.

“ By the way, Watson, I suppose you see it all
clearly ? ”

“ No, I can't say that I do. I only gather that
we are going to see the lady who is behind all this
mischief.”

” Exactly ! But does the name Isadora Klein
convey nothing to you ? She was, of course, the
celebrated beauty. There was never a woman to
touch her. She is pure Spanish, the real blood of
the masterful Conquistadors, and her people have
been leaders in Pernambuco for generations. She
married the aged German sugar king, Klein, and pres-
ently found herself the richest as well as the most

Ii6 CASE-BOOK OF SHERLOCK HOLMES

lovely widow upon earth. Then there was an inter-
val of adventure when she pleased her own tastes.
She had several lovers, and Douglas Maberley, one
of the most striking men in London, was one of them.
It was by all accounts more than an adventure with
him. He was not a Society butterfly, but a strong,
proud man who gave and expected all. But she is
the ‘ belle dame sans merci ’ of fiction. When her
caprice is satisfied, the matter is ended, and if the
other party in the matter can’t take her word for it,
she knows how to bring it home to him."

*' Then that was his own story ”

" Ah 1 you are piecing it together now. I hear
that she is about to marry the young Duke of
Lomond, who might almost be her son. His Grace’s
ma might overlook the age, but a big scandal would

be a different matter, so it is imperative Ah !

here we are."

It was one of the finest comer-houses of the West
End. A machine-like footman took up our cards
and returned with word that the lady was not at
home. "Then we shall wait until she is,” said
Holmes cheerfully.

The machine broke down.

** Not at home means not at home to you," said
the footman.

" Good," Holmes answered. " That means that
we shall not have to wait. Kindly give this note to
your mistress."

He scribbled three or four words upon a sheet
of his notebook, folded it, and handed it to the
man.

" What did you say. Holmes ? " I asked

THE THREE GABLES 117

" I simply wrote ' Shall it be the police, then ? *
I think that should pass us in."

It did — with amazing celerity. A minute later
we were in an Arabian-nights’ drawing-room, vast
and wonderful, in a half gloom, picked out with an
occasional pink electric light. The lady had come,
I felt, to that time of life when even the proudest
beauty finds the half-light more welcome. She rose
from a settee as we entered : tall, queenly, a perfect
figure, a lovely mask- like face, with two wonderful
Spanish eyes which looked murder at us both.

" What is this intrusion — and this insulting mes-
sage ? " she asked, holding up the slip of paper.

“ I need not explain, madame. I have too much
respect for your intelligence to do so — though I con-
fess that intelligence has been surprisingly at fault
of late."

" How so, sir ? "

" By supposing that your hired bullies could
frighten me from my work. Surely no man would
take up my profession if it were not that danger
attracts him. It was you, then, who forced me to
examine the case of young Maberley."

" I have no idea what you are talking about.
What have I to do with hired bullies ? '

Holmes turned away wearily.

" Yes, I have underrated your intelligence. Well,
good afternoon 1 "

" Stop 1 Where are you going ? ”

" To Scotland Yard.”

We had not got half-way to the door before she
had overtaken us and was holding his arm. She had
turned in a moment from steel to velvet.

xx8 CASE-BOOK OF SHERLOCK HOLMES

"Come and sit down, gentlemen. Let us talk
this matter over. I feel that I may be frank with
you, Mr. Holmes. You have the feelings of a gentle-
man. How quick a woman’s instinct is to find it
out. I will treat you as a friend.”

" I cannot promise to reciprocate, madame. I
am not the law, but I represent justice so far as my
feeble powers go. I am ready to listen, and then I
will tell you how I will act.”

" No doubt it was foolish of me to threaten a
brave man like yourself.”

“ What was really foolish, madame, is that you
have placed yourself in the power of a band of rascals
who may blackmail or give you away.”

" No, no 1' I am not so simple. Since I have
promised to be frank, I may say that no one, save
Barney Stockdale and Susan, his wife, have the least
idea who their employer is. As to them, well, it is

not the first ” She smiled and nodded, with a

charming coquettish intimacy.

“ I see. You’ve tested them before.”

" They are good hounds who run silent.”

" Such hounds have a way sooner or later of biting
the hand that feeds them. They will be arrested for
this burglary. The police are already after them.”

“ They will take what comes to them. That is
what they are paid for. I shall not appear in the
matter.”

“ Unless I bring you into it.”

“ No, no ; you would not. You are a gentleman.
It is a woman's secret.”

“ In the first place you must give back this manu-
script.”

THE THREE GABLES

119

She broke into a ripple of laughter, and walked to
the fireplace. There was a calcined mass which she
broke up with the poker. “ Shall I give this back ? ”
she asked. So roguish and exquisite did she look as
she stood before us with a challenging smile that I
felt of all Holmes’s criminals this was the one whom
he would find it hardest to face. However, he was
immune from sentiment.

“ That seals your fate,” he said coldly. “ You
are very prompt in your actions, madame, but you
have overdone it on this occasion.”

She threw the poker down with a clatter.

" How hard you are ! ” she cried. “ May I tell
you the whole story ? ”

*' I fancy I could tell it to you.”

" But you must look at it with my eyes, Mr.
Holmes. You must realize it from the point of view
of a woman who sees all her life’s ambition about to
be ruined at the last moment. Is such a woman to
be blamed if she protects herself ? ”

" The original sin was yours.”

“ Yes, yes 1 I admit it. He was a dear boy,
Douglas, but it so chanced that he could not fit into
my plans. He wanted marriage — marriage, Mr.
Holmes — with a penniless commoner. Nothing less
would serve him. Then he became pertinacious.
Because I had given he seemed to think that I still
must give, and to him only. It was intolerable. At
last I had to make him realize it.”

“ By hiring ruffians to beat him under your own
window.”

" You do indeed seem to know everything. Well,
it is true. Barney and the boys drove him away.

120 cASE-BOOK OF SHERLOCK HOLMES

and were, 1 admit, a little rough in doing so. But
what did he do then ? Could 1 have believed that a
gentleman would do such an act ? He wrote a book
in which he described his own story. I, of course,
was the woli ; he the lamb. It was all there, under
different names, of course ; but who in all London
would have failed to recognize it ? What do you
say to that, Mr. Holmes ? "

“ Well, he was within his rights.”

" It was as if the air of Italy had got into his blood
and brought with it the old cruel Italian spirit.
He wrote to me and sent me a copy of his book that
I might have the torture of anticipation. There
were two copies, he said — one for me, one for his
publisher.”

“ How did you know the publisher’s had not
reached him ? ”

“ I knew who his publisher was. It is not his only
novel, you know. I found out that he had not heard
from Italy. Then came Douglas's sudden death.
So long as that other manuscript was in the world
there was no safety for me. Of course, it must be
among his effects, and these would be returned to
his mother. I set the gang at work. One of them
got into the house as servant. I wanted to do the
thing honestly. I really and truly did. I was
ready to buy the house and everything in it. I
offered any price she cared to ask. I only tried the
other way when everything else had failed. Now,
Mr. Holmes, granting that I was too hard on Douglas
— and, God knows, I am sorry for it 1 — what else
could I do with my whole future at stake ? ”

Sherlock Holmes shrugged his shoulders.

THE THREE GABLES mi

** Well, well,” said he, ” I suppose I shall have to
compound a felony as usual. How much does it
cost to go round the world in first-class style ? ”
The lady stared in amazement.

“ Could it be done on five thousand pounds ? ”

“ Well, I should think so, indeed I ”

“ Very good. I think you will sign me a cheque
for that, and I will see that it comes to Mrs. Maber-
ley. You owe her a little change of air. Meantime,
lady he wagged a cautionary forefinger—” have
a care l Have a care 1 You can’t play with edged
tools for ever without cutting those dainty hands.”

V

THE ADVENTURE OF THE SUSSEX
VAMPIRE

H OLMES had read carefully a note which the
last post had brought him. Then, with the
dry chuckle which was his nearest approach to a
laugh, he tossed it over to me.

“ For a mixture of the modern and the mediaeval,
of the practical and of the wildly fanciful, I think
this is surely the limit,” said he. “ What do you
make of it, Watson ? ”

I read as follows :

Sir,—

46, Old Jewry,

Re Vampires.

Nov. 19/A.

Our client, Mr. Robert Ferguson, of Ferguson and
Muirhead, tea brokers, of Mincing Lane, has made
some inquiry from us in a communication of even
date concerning vampires. As our firm specializes
entirely upon the assessment of machinery the
matter hardly comes within our purview, and we
have therefore recommended Mr. Ferguson to call
Upon you and lay the matter before you. We have
not forgotten your successful action in the case of
Matilda Briggs.

We are. Sir, Faithfully yours,

Morrison, Morrison, and Dodd.

per E. J. C.

122

THE SUSSEX VAMPIRE

123

" Matilda Briggs was not the name of a young
woman, Watson,” said Holmes, in a reminiscent
voice. “ It was a ship which is associated with the
giant rat of Sumatra, a story for which the world is
not yet prepared. But what do we know about
vampires ? Does it come within our purview
either? Anything is better than stagnation, but
really we seem to have been switched on to a Grimm's
fairy tale. Make a long arm, Watson, and see what
V has to say.”

I leaned back and took down the great index
volume to which he referred. Holmes balanced it
on his knee and his eyes moved slowly and lovingly
over the record of old cases, mixed with the accumu-
lated information of a lifetime.

" Voyage of the Gloria Scott/’ he read. “ That
was a bad business. I have some recollection that
you made a record of it, Watson, though I was
unable to congratulate you upon the result. Victor
Lynch, the forger. Venomous lizard or gila. Re-
markable case, that ! Vittoria, the circus belle.
Vanderbilt and the Yeggman. Vipers. Vigor, the
Ha mm ersmith wonder. Hullo ! Hullo ! Good old
index. You can’t beat it. Listen to this, Watson.
Vampirism in Hungary. And again, Vampires in
Transylvania.” He turned over the pages with
eagerness, but after a short intent perusal he threw
down the great book with a snarl of disappointment.

" Rubbish, Watson, rubbish ! What have we to
do with walking corpses who can only be held in their
grave by stakes driven through their hearts ? It '2
pure lunacy.”

“ But surely,” said I, “ the vampire was not

124 CASE-BOOK OF SHERLOCK HOLMES

necessarily a dead man? A living person might
have the habit. 1 have read, for example, of the
old sucking the blood of the young in order to retain
their youth.”

“ You are right, Watson. It mentions the legend
in one of these references. But are we to give serious
attention to such things ? This Agency stands flat-
footed upon the ground, and there it must remain.
The world is big enough for us. No ghosts need
apply. I fear that we cannot take Mr. Robert
Ferguson very seriously. Possibly this note may be
from him, and may throw some light upon what is
worrying him.”

He took up a second letter which had lain un-
noticed upon the table whilst he had been absorbed
with the first. This he began to read wit ft a smile of
amusement upon his face which gradually faded
away into an expression of intense interest and con-
centration. When he had finished he sat for some
little time lost in thought with the letter dangling
from his fingers. Finally, with a start, he aroused
himself from his reverie.

*' Cheeseman’s, Lamberley. Where is Lamberley,
Watson ? ”

” It is in Sussex, south of Horsham.”

" Not very far, eh ? And Cheeseman’s ? ”

“ I know that country, Holmes. It is full of old
houses which are named after the men who built
them centuries ago. You get Odley’s and Harvey’s
and Carriton’s — the folk are forgotten but their
names live in their houses.”

" Precisely,” said Holmes coldly. It was one of
the peculiarities of his proud, self-contained nature

THE SUSSEX VAMPIRE

125

that, though he docketed any fresh information very
quickly and accurately in his brain, he seldom made
any acknowledgment to the giver. " I rather fancy
we shall know a good deal more about Cheeseman’s,
Lamberley, before we are through. The letter is, as
I had hoped, from Robert Ferguson. By the way,
he claims acquaintance with you."

" With me ! ”

" You had better read it."

He handed the letter across. It was headed with
the address quoted.

Dear Mr. Holmes, (it said) — I have been recom-
mended to you by my lawyers, but indeed the matter
is so extraordinarily delicate that it is most difficult
to discuss. It concerns a friend for whom I am
acting. This gentleman married some five years ago
a Peruvian lady, the daughter of a Peruvian mer-
chant, whom he had met in connection with the
importation of nitrates. The lady was very beau-
tiful, but the fact of her foreign birth and of her alien
religion always caused a separation of interests and
of feelings between husband and wife, so that after
a time his love may have cooled towards her and he
may have come to regard their union as a mistake.
He felt there were sides of her character which he
could never explore or understand. This was the
more painful as she was as loving a wife as a man
could have — to all appearance absolutely devoted.

Now for the point which I will make more plain
when we meet. Indeed, this note is merely to give
you a general idea of the situation and to ascertain
whether you would care to interest yourself in the

126 CASE-BOOK OF SHERLOCK HOLMES

matter. The lady began to show some curious traits
quite alien to her ordinarily sweet and gentle dis-
position. The gentleman had been married twice
and he had one son by the first wife. This boy was
now fifteen, a very charming and affectionate youth,
though unhappily injured through an accident in
childhood. Twice the wife was caught in the act of
assaulting this poor lad in the most unprovoked way.
Once she struck him with a stick and left a great
weal on his arm.

This was a small matter, however, compared with
her conduct to her own child, a dear boy just under
one year of age. On one occasion about a month
ago this child had been left by its nurse for a few
minutes. A loud cry from the baby, as of pain,
called the nurse back. As she ran into the room she
saw her employer, the lady, leaning over the baby
and apparently biting his neck. There was a small
wound in the neck, from which a stream of blood
had escaped. The nurse was so horrified that she
wished to call the husband, but the lady implored
her not to do so, and actually gave her five pounds
as a price for her silence. No explanation was ever
given, and for the moment the matter was passed
over.

It left, however, a terrible impression upon the
nurse’s mind, and from that time she began to watch
her mistress closely, and to keep a closer guard upon
the baby, whom she tenderly loved. It seemed to
her that even as she watched the mother, so the
mother watched her, and that every time she was
compelled to leave the baby alone the mother was
waiting to get at it. Day and night the nurse

THE SUSSEX VAMPIRE xvj

covered the child, and day and night the silent,
watchful mother seemed to be lying in wait as a wolf
waits for a lamb. It must read most incredible to
you, and yet I beg you to take it seriously, for a
child’s life and a man’s sanity may depend upon it.

At last there came one dreadful day when the
facts could no longer be concealed from the husband.
The nurse’s nerve had given way ; she could stand
the strain no longer, and she made a clean breast of
it all to the man. To him it seemed as wild a tale
as it may now seem to you. He knew his wife to be
a loving wife, and, save for the assaults upon her
stepson, a loving mother. Why, then, should she
wound her own dear little baby ? He told the nurse
that she was dreaming, that her suspicions were
those of a lunatic, and that such libels upon her mis-
tress were not to be tolerated. Whilst they were
talking, a sudden cry of pain was heard. Nurse and
master rushed together to the nursery. Imagine
his feelings, Mr. Holmes, as he saw his wife rise from
a kneeling position beside the cot, and saw blood
upon the child’s exposed neck and upon the sheet.
With a cry of horror, he turned his wife’s face to the
light and saw blood all round her lips. It was she —
she beyond all question — who had drunk the poor
baby’s blood.

So the matter stands. She is now confined to her
room. There has been no explanation. The hus-
band is half demented. He knows, and I know,
little of Vampirism beyond the name. We had
thought it was some wild tale of foreign parts. And
yet here in the very heart of the English Sussex —
well, all this can be discussed with you in the morn-

128 CASE-BOOK OF SHERLOCK HOLMES

ing. Will you see me ? Will you use your great
powers in aiding a distracted man ? If so, kindly
wire to Ferguson, Cheeseman’s, Lamberley, and I
will be at your rooms by ten o'clock.

Yours faithfully,

Robert Ferguson.

PS. — I believe your friend Watson played Rugby
for Blackheath when I was three-quarter for Rich-
mond. It is the only personal introduction which I
can give.

“ Of course I remember him,” said I, as I laid
down the letter. “ Big Bob Ferguson, the finest
three-quarter Richmond ever had. He was always
a good-natured chap. It’s like him 10 be so con-
cerned over a friend’s case.”

Holmes looked at me thoughtfully and shook his
head.

" I never get your limits, Watson,” said he.
" There are unexplored possibilities about you.
Take a wire down, like a good fellow. * Will examine
your case with pleasure.' ”

“ Your case ! ”

“ We must not let him think that this Agency is a
home for the weak-minded. Of course it is his case.

Send him that wire and let the matter rest till morn-

■ _ 1 1
mg.

Promptly at ten o’clock next morning Ferguson
strode into our room. I had remembered him as a
long, slab-sided man with loose limbs and a fine turn
of speed, which had carried him round many an

THE SUSSEX VAMPIRE 129

opposing back. There is surely nothing in life more
painful than to meet the wreck of a fine athlete
whom one has known in his prime. His great frame
had fallen in, his flaxen hair was scanty, and his
shoulders were bowed. I fear that I roused corre-
sponding emotions in him.

“ Hullo, Watson,” said he, and his voice was still
deep and hearty. “ You don’t look quite the man
you did when I threw you over the ropes into the
crowd at the Old Deer Park. I expect I have
changed a bit also. But it’s this last day or two
that has aged me. I see by your telegram, Mr.
Holmes, that it is no use my pretending to be any-
one’s deputy.”

“ It is simpler to deal direct,” said Holmes.

*' Of course it is. But you can imagine how
difficult it is when you are speaking of the one
woman whom you are bound to protect and help.
What can I do ? How am I to go to the police with
such a story ? And yet the kiddies have got to
be protected. Is it madness, Mr. Holmes ? Is it
something in the blood ? Have you any similar
case in your experience ? For God’s sake, give me
some advice, for I am at my wits’ end.”

“ Very naturally, Mr. Ferguson. Now sit here
and pull yourself together and give me a few clear
answers. I can assure you that I am very far from
being at my wits’ end, and that I am confident we
shall find some solution. First of all, tell me what
steps you have taken. Is your wife still near the
children ? ”

“ We had a dreadful scene. She is a most loving
woman, Mr. Holmes. If ever a woman loved a man

130 CASE-BOOK OF SHERLOCK HOLMES

with all her heart and soul, she loves me. She was
cut to the heart that I should have discovered this
horrible, this incredible, secret . She would not even
speak. She gave no answer to my reproaches, save
to gaze at me with a sort of wild, despairing look in
her eyes. Then she rushed to her room and locked
herself in. Since then she has refused to see me.
She has a maid who was with her before her marriage,
Dolores by name — a friend rather than a servant.
She takes her food to her.”

“ Then the child is in no immediate danger ? "

*' Mrs. Mason, the nurse, has sworn that she will
not leave it night or day. I can absolutely trust her.
I am more uneasy about poor little Jack, for, as I
told you in my note, he has twice been assaulted by
her.”

“ But never wounded ? ”

" No ; she struck him savagely. It is the more
terrible as he is a poor little inoffensive cripple.”
Ferguson’s gaunt features softened as he spoke of
his boy. “You would think that the dear lad's
condition would soften anyone’s heart. A fall in
childhood and a twisted spine, Mr. Holmes. But
the dearest, most loving heart within.”

Holmes had picked up the letter of yesterday and
was reading it over. " What other inmates are
there in your house, Mr. Ferguson ? ”

“ Two servants who have not been long with us.
One stable-hand, Michael, who sleeps in the house.
My wife, myself, my boy Jack, baby, Dolores, and
Mrs. Mason. That is all.”

“ I gather that you did not know your wife well
at the time of your marriage ? ”

THE SUSSEX VAMPIRE 131

" I had only known her a few weeks."

“ How long had this maid Dolores been with
her? "

" Some years."

" Then your wife's character would really be better
known by Dolores than by you ? "

4 * Yes, you may say so.”

Holmes made a note.

“ I fancy,” said he, " that I may be of more use
at Lamberley than here. It is eminently a case for
personal investigation. If the lady remains in her
room, our presence could not annoy t or inconvenience
her. Of course, we would stay at the inn."

Ferguson gave a gesture of relief.

" It is what I hoped, Mr. Holmes. There is an
excellent train at two from Victoria, if you could
come.”

" Of course we could come. There is a lull at
present. I can give you my undivided energies.
Watson, of course, comes with us. But there are
one or two points upon which I wish to be very sure
before I start. This unhappy lady, as I understand
it, has appeared to assault both the children, her
own baby and your little son ? "

" That is so."

" But the assaults take different forms, do they
not ? She has beaten your son.”

“ Once with a stick and once very savagely with
her hands.”

" Did she give no explanation why she struck
him ? ”

" None, save that she hated him. Again and
again she said so."

X32 CASE-BOOK OF SHERLOCK HOLMES

“ Well, that is not unknown among stepmothers.
A posthumous jealousy, we will say. Is the lady
jealous by nature ? ”

“ Yes, she is very jealous — jealous with all the
strength of her fiery tropical love."

“ But the boy — he is fifteen, I understand, and
probably very developed in mind, since his body
has been circumscribed in action. Did he give you
no explanation of these assaults ? "

** Ho ; he declared there was no reason/'

" Were they good friends at other times ? ”

“ No ; there was never any love between them."
" Yet you say he is affectionate ? ”

" Never in the world could there be so devoted a
son. My life is his life. He is absorbed in what I
say or do.”

Once again Holmes made a note. For some time
he sat lost in thought.

“ No doubt you and the boy were great comrades
before this second marriage. You were thrown
very close together, were you not ? "

“ Very much so.”

“ And the boy, having so affectionate a nature,
was devoted, no doubt, to the memory of his
mother ? ”

“ Most devoted."

" He would certainly seem to be a most interesting
lad. There is one other point about these assaults.
Were the strange attacks upon the baby and the
assaults upon your son at the same period ? "

" In the first case it was so. It was as if some
frenzy had seized her, and she had vented her rage
upon both. In the second case it was only Jack who

THE SUSSEX VAMPIRE 133

suffered. Mrs. Mason had no complaint to make
about the baby."

" That certainly complicates matters."

" I don’t quite follow you, Mr. Holmes."

“ Possibly not. One forms provisional theories
and waits for time or fuller knowledge to explode
them. A bad habit, Mr. Ferguson ; but human
nature is weak. I fear that your old friend here has
given an exaggerated view of my scientific methods.
However, I will only say at the present stage that
your problem does not appear to me to be insoluble,
and that you may expect to find us at Victoria at
two o'clock.”

It was evening of a dull, foggy November day when,
having left our bags at the “ Chequers,” Lamber-
ley, we drove through the Sussex clay of a long wind-
ing lane, and finally reached the isolated and ancient
farm-house in which F erguson dwelt. It was a large,
straggling building, very old in the centre, very new
at the wings, with towering Tudor chimneys and a
lichen-spotted, high-pitched roof of Horsham slabs.
The doorsteps were worn into curves, and the ancient
tiles which lined the porch were marked with the
rebus of a cheese and a man, after the original
builder. Within, the ceilings were corrugated with
heavy oaken beams, and the uneven floors sagged
into sharp curves. An odour of age and decay per-
vaded the whole crumbling building.

There was one very large central room, into which
Ferguson led us. Here, in a huge old-fashioned fire-
place with an iron screen behind it dated 1670, there
blazed and spluttered a splendid log fire.

134 CASE-BOOK OF SHERLOCK HOLMES

The room, as I gazed round, was a most singular
mixture of dates and of places. The half-panelled
walls may well have belonged to the original yeoman
farmer of the seventeenth century. They were
ornamented, however, on the lower part by a line
of well-chosen modem water-colours ; while above,
where yellow plaster took the place of oak, there was
hung a fine collection of South American utensils
and weapons, which had been brought, no doubt,
by the Peruvian lady upstairs. Holmes rose, with
that quick curiosity which sprang from his eager
mind, and examined them with some care. He
returned with his eyes full of thought.

" Hullo ! ” he cried. “ Hullo 1 ”

A spaniel had lain in a basket in the comer. It
came slowly forward towards its master, walking
with difficulty. Its hind-legs moved irregularly
and its tail was on the ground. It licked Ferguson's
hand.

“ What is it, Mr. Holmes ? ”

“ The dog. What’s the matter with it ? ”

" That's what puzzled the vet. A sort of paral-
ysis. Spinal meningitis, he thought. But it is
passing. He'll be all right soon — won't you.
Carlo ? "

A shiver of assent passed through the drooping
tail. The dog’s mournful eyes passed from one of
us to the other. He knew that we were discussing
his case.

“ Did it come on suddenly ? ”

” In a single night.”

" How long ago ? "

“ It may have been four -months ago."

THE SUSSEX VAMPIRE 135

“ Very remarkable. Very suggestive.”

" What do you see in it, Mr. Holmes ? ”

“ A confirmation of what I had already thought.”

“ For God's sake, what do you think, Mr. Holmes ?
It may be a mere intellectual puzzle to you, but it is
life and death to me ! My wife a would-be murderer
— my child in constant danger 1 Don’t play with
me, Mr. Holmes. It is too terribly serious.”

The big Rugby three-quarter was trembling all
over. Holmes put his hand soothingly upon his
arm.

“ I fear that there is pain for you, Mr. Ferguson,
whatever the solution may be,” said he. “I would
spare you all I can. I cannot say more for the in-
stant, but before I leave this house I hope I may have
something definite.”

“ Please God you may I If you will excuse me,
gentlemen, I will go up to my wife’s room and see if
there has been any change.”

He was away some minutes, during which Holmes
resumed his examination of the curiosities upon the
wall. When our host returned it was dear from his
downcast face that he had made no progress. He
brought with him a tall, slim, brown-faced girl.

“ The tea is ready, Dolores,” said Ferguson.
” See that your mistress has everything she can
wish.”

“ She verra ill,” cried the girl, looking with indig-
nant eyes at her master. “ She no ask for food.
She verra ill. She need doctor. I frightened stay
alone with her without doctor.”

Ferguson looked at me with a question in his eyes.

“ I should be so glad if I could be of use.”

136 CASE-BOOK OF SHERLOCK HOLMES

" Would your mistress see Dr. Watson ? ”

" I take him. I no ask leave. She needs doctor."

" Then I’ll come with you at once.”

I followed the girl, who was quivering with strong
emotion, up the staircase and down an ancient cor-
ridor. At the end was an iron-clamped and massive
door. It struck me as I looked at it that if Ferguson,
tried to force his way to his wife he would find it no
easy matter. The girl drew a key from her pocket,
and the heavy oaken planks creaked upon their old
hinges. I passed in and she swiftly followed, fasten-
ing the door behind her.

On the bed a woman was lying who was clearly in
a high fever. She was only half conscious, but as I
entered she raised a pair of frightened but beautiful
eyes and glared at me in apprehension. Seeing a
stranger, she appeared to be relieved, and sank back
with a sigh upon the pillow. I stepped up to her
with a few reassuring words, and she lay still while I
took her pulse and temperature. Both were high,
and yet my impression was that the condition was
rather that of mental and nervous excitement than
of any actual seizure.

" She lie like that one day, two day. I ’fraid she
die,” said the girl.

The woman turned her flushed and handsome face
towards me.

” Where is my husband ? ”

“ He is below, and would wish to see you.”

“ I will not see him. I will not see him.” Then
she seemed to wander off into delirium. “ A fiend 1
A fiend 1 Oh, what shall I do with this devil ? ”

” Can I help you in any way ? ”

THE SUSSEX VAMPIRE

137

“ No. No one can help. It is finished. All is
destroyed. Do what I will, all is destroyed.”

The woman must have some strange delusion. I
could not see honest Bob Ferguson in the character
of fiend or devil.

“ Madame,” I said, “ your husband loves you
dearly. He is deeply grieved at this happening.”

Again she turned on me those glorious eyes.

" He loves me. Yes. But do I not love him ?
Do I not love him even to sacrifice myself rather
than break his dear heart. That is how I love him .
And yet he could think of me — he could speak of
me so.”

" He is full of grief, but he cannot understand.”

" No, he cannot understand. But he should
trust.”

" Will you not see him ? ” I suggested.

“ No, no ; I cannot forget those terrible words
nor the look upon his face. I will not see him. Go
now. You can do nothing for me. Tell him only
one thing. I want my child. I have a right to my
child. That is the only message I can send him.”
She turned her face to the wall and would say no
more.

I returned to the room downstairs, where Ferguson
and Holmes still sat by the fire. Ferguson listened
moodily to my account of the interview.

“ How can I send her the child ? ” he said. " How
do I know what strange impulse might come upon
her ? How can I ever forget how she rose from
beside it with its blood upon her lips ? ” He shud-
dered at the recollection. " The child is safe with
Mrs. Mason, and there he must remain.”

138 CASE-BOOK OF SHERLOCK HOLMES

A smart maid, the only modem thing which we
had seen in the house, had brought in some tea.
As she was serving it the door opened and a youth
entered the room. He was a remarkable lad, pale-
faced and fair-haired, with excitable light blue eyes
which blazed into a sudden flame of emotion and joy
as they rested upon his father. He rushed forward
and threw his arms round his neck with the abandon
of a loving girl.

“ Oh, daddy,” he cried, “ I did not know that you
were due yet. I should have been here to meet you.
Oh, I am so glad to see you l ”

Ferguson gently disengaged himself from the
embrace with some little show of embarrassment.

" Dear old chap,” said he, patting the flaxen head
with a very tender hand. “ I came early because
my friends, Mr. Holmes and Dr. Watson, have been
persuaded to come down and spend an evening with
us.”

“ Is that Mr. Holmes, the detective ? "

" Yes.”

The youth looked at us with a very penetrating
and, as it seemed to me, unfriendly gaze.

" What about your other child, Mr. Ferguson ? ”
asked Holmes. “ Might we make the acquaintance
of the baby ? ”

" Ask Mrs. Mason to bring baby dowh,” said Fer-
guson. The boy went off with a curious, shambling
gait which told my surgical eyes that he was suffer-
ing from a weak spine. Presently he returned, and
behind him came a tall, gaunt woman bearing in her
arms a very beautiful child, dark-eyed, golden-
haired, a wonderful mixture of the Saxon and the

THE SUSSEX VAMPIRE 139

Latin. Ferguson was evidently devoted to it, for he
took it into his arms and fondled it most tenderly/'

“ Fancy anyone having the heart to hurt him,”
he muttered, as he glanced down at the small, angry
red pucker upon the cherub throat.

It was at this moment that I chanced to glance
at Holmes, and saw a most singular intentness in his
expression. His face was as set as if it had been
carved out of old ivory, and his eyes, which had
glanced for a moment at father and child, were now
fixed with eager curiosity upon something at the
other side of the room. Following his gaze I could
only guess that he was looking out through the win-
dow at the melancholy, dripping garden. It is true
that a shutter had half closed outside and obstructed
the view, but none the less it was certainly at the
window that Holmes was fixing his concentrated
attention. Then he smiled, and his eyes came back
to the baby. On its chubby neck there was this
small puckered mark. Without speaking. Holmes
examined it with care. Finally he shook one of the
dimpled fists which waved in front of him.

“ Good-bye, little man. You have made a strange
start in life. Nurse, I should wish to have a word
with you in private.”

He took her aside and spoke earnestly for a few
minutes. I only heard the last words, which were ;
“ Your anxiety will soon, I hope, be set at rest.”
The woman, who seemed to be a sour, silent kind of
creature, withdrew with the child.

“ What is Mrs. Mason like ? " asked Holmes.

" Not very prepossessing externally, as you can
see, but a heart of gold, and devoted to the child.”

140 CASE-BOOK OF SHERLOCK HOLMES

" Do you like her, Jack ? ” Holmes turned sud-
denly upon the boy. His expressive mobile face
shadowed over, and he shook his head.

“ Jacky has very strong likes and dislikes/' said
Ferguson, putting his arm round the boy. “ Luckily
1 am one of his likes/'

The boy cooed and nestled his head upon his
father’s breast. Ferguson gently disengaged him.

“ Run away, little Jacky,” said he, and he watched
his son with loving eyes until he disappeared.
** Now, Mr. Holmes,” he continued, when the boy
was gone, '* I really feel that I have brought you on
a fool’s errand, for what can you possibly do, save
give me your sympathy ? It must be an exceed-
ingly delicate and complex affair from your point
of view.”

“ It is certainly delicate," said my friend, with an
amused smile, " but I have not been struck up to
now with its complexity. It has been a case for
intellectual deduction, but when this original intel-
lectual deduction is confirmed point by point by
quite a number of independent incidents, then the
subjective becomes objective and we can say con-
fidently that we have reached our goal. I had, in
fact, reached it before we left Baker Street, and the
rest has merely been observation and confirmation."

Ferguson put his big hand to his furrowed fore-
head.

” For Heaven’s sake, Holmes,” he said hoarsely,
*' if you can see the truth in this matter, do not keep
me in suspense. How do I stand ? What shall I
do ? I care nothing as to how you have found your
facts so long as you have really got them.”

THE SUSSEX VAMPIRE 141

“ Certainly 1 owe you an explanation, and you
shall have it. But you will permit me to handle the
matter in my own way ? Is the lady capable of
seeing us, Watson ? "

“ She is ill, but she is quite rational."

" Very good. It is only in her presence that we
can clear the matter up. Let us go up to her."

" She will not see me," cried Ferguson.

“ Oh, yes, she will," said Holmes. He scribbled
a few lines upon a sheet of paper. " You at least
have the entrtc, Watson. Will you have the good-
ness to give the lady this note ? ”

I ascended again and handed the note to Dolores,
who cautiously opened the door. A minute later I
heard a cry from within, a cry in which joy and sur-
prise seemed to be blended. Dolores looked out.

" She will see them. She will leesten,” said she.

At my summons Ferguson and Holmes came up.
As we entered the room Ferguson took a step or two
towards his wife, who had raised herself in the bed,
but she held out her hand to repulse him. He sank
into an arm-chair, while Holmes seated himself
beside him, after bowing to the lady, who looked at
him with wide-eyed amazement.

“ 1 t hink we can dispense with Dolores," said
Holmes. “ Oh, very well, madame, if you would
rather she stayed I can see no objection. Now, Mr.
Ferguson, I am a busy man with many calls, and my
methods have to be short and direct. The swiftest
surgery is the least painful. Let me first say what
will ease your mind. Your wife is a very good, a
very loving, and a very ill-used woman.”

Ferguson sat up with a cry of joy.

142 CASE-BOOK OF SHERLOCK HOLMES

" Prove that, Mr. Holmes, and I am your debtor
for ever."

" 1 will do so, but in doing so I must wound you
deeply in another direction.”

“ I care nothing so long as you dear my wife.
Everything on earth is insignificant compared to
that."

“ Let me tell you, then, the train of reasoning
which passed through my mind in Baker Street.
The idea of a vampire was to me absurd. Such
things do not happen in criminal practice in England.
And yet your observation was precise. You had
seen the lady rise from beside the child’s cot with the
blood upon her lips.”

" I did.”

" Did it not occur to you that a bleeding wound
may be sucked for some other purpose than to draw
the blood from it ? Was there not a Queen in
English history who sucked such a wound to draw
poison from it ? ”

“ Poison I "

" A South American household. My instinct felt
the presence of those weapons upon the wall before
my eyes ever saw them. It might have been other
poison, but that was what occurred to me. When I
saw that little empty quiver beside the small bird-
bow, it was just what I expected to see. If the child
were pricked with one of those arrows dipped in
curare or some other devilish drug, it would mean
death if the venom were not sucked out.

“ And the dog ! If one were to use such a poison,
would one not try it first in order to see that it had
not lost its power ? I did not foresee the dog, but

THE SUSSEX VAMPIRE

143

at least I understood him and he fitted into my
reconstruction.

" Now do you understand ? Your wife feared
such an attack. She saw it made and saved the
child’s life, and yet she shrank from telling you all
the truth, for she knew how you loved the boy and
feared lest it break your heart.”

“ Jacky ! ”

“ I watched him as you fondled the child just
now. His face was clearly reflected in the glass of
the window where the shutter formed a background.
I saw such jealousy, such cruel hatred, as I have
seldom seen in a human face.”

“ My Jacky ! ”

" You have to face it, Mr. Ferguson. It is the
more.painful because it is a distorted love, a maniacal
exaggerated love for you, and possibly for his dead
mother, which has prompted his action. His very
soul is consumed with hatred for this splendid child,
whose health and beauty are a contrast to his own
weakness.”

“ Good God ! It is incredible ! ”

“ Have I spoken the truth, madame ? ”

The lady was sobbing, with her face buried in the
pillows. Now she turned to her husband.

“ How could I tell you. Bob ? I felt the blow it
would be to you. It was better that I should wait
and that it should come from some other lips than
mine. When this gentleman, who seems to have
powers of magic, wrote that he knew all, I was glad.”

“ I think a year at sea would be my prescription
for Master Jacky,” said Holmes, rising from his
chair. " Only one thing is still clouded, madame.

144 CASE-BOOK OF SHERLOCK HOLMES

We can quite understand your attacks upon Master
Jacky. There is a limit to a mother’s patience. But
how did you dare to leave the child these last two
days ? ”

" I had told Mrs. Mason. She knew."

” Exactly. So I imagined.”

Ferguson was standing by the bed, choking, his
hands outstretched and quivering.

“ This, I fancy, is the time for our exit, Watson,"
said Holmes in a whisper. “ If you will take one
elbow of the too faithful Dolores, I will take the
other. There, now,” he added, as he closed the
door behind him, “ I think we may leave them to
settle the rest among themselves.”

I have only one further note of this case. It is
the letter which Holmes wrote in final answer to that
with which the narrative begins. It ran thus :

Baker Street,

Nov 21 st.

Re Vampires.

Sir, —

Referring to your letter of the 19th, I beg to state
that I have looked into the inquiry of your client,
Mr. Robert Ferguson, of Ferguson and Muirhead, tea
brokers, of Mincing Lane, and that the matter has
been brought to a satisfactory conclusion. With
thanks for your recommendation,

I am, Sir,

Faithfully yours,

Sherlock Holmes.

VI

THE ADVENTURE OF THE THREE
GARRIDEBS

I T may have been a comedy, or it may have been
a tragedy. It cost one man his reason, it cost
me a blood-letting, and it cost yet another man the
penalties of the law. Yet there was certainly an
element of comedy. Well, you shall judge for your-
selves.

I remember the date very well, for it was in the
same month that Holmes refused a knighthood for
services which may perhaps some day be described.
I only refer to the matter in passing, for in my
position of partner and confidant I am obliged to be
particularly careful to avoid any indiscretion. I
repeat, however, that this enables me to fix the
date, which was the latter end of June, 1902, shortly
after the conclusion of the South African War.
Holmes had spent several days in bed, as was his
habit from time to time, but he emerged that morn-
ing with a long foolscap document in his hand
and a twinkle of amusement in his austere grey
eyes.

" There is a chance for you to make some money,
friend Watson,” said he. “ Have you ever heard
the name of Garrideb ? ”

I admitted that I had not.

145 :

146 CASE-BOOK OF SHERLOCK HOLMES

" Well, if you can lay your hand upon a Garrideb,
there’s money in it.”

" Why ? ”

" Ah, that’s a long story — rather a whimsical one,
too. I don’t think in all our explorations of human
complexities we have ever come upon anything more
singular. The fellow will be here presently for cross-
examination, so I won’t open the matter up till he
comes. But meanwhile, that’s the name we want.”

The telephone directory lay on the table beside
me, and I turned over the pages in a rather hopeless
quest. But to my amazement there was this strange
name in its due place. I gave a cry of triumph.

" Here you are. Holmes ! Here it is 1 "

Holmes took the book from my hand.

" ' Garrideb, N.,’ ” he read, “ * 136 Little Ryder
Street, W.’ Sorry to disappoint you, my dear Wat-
son, but this is the man himself. That is the address
upon his letter. We want another to match him.”

Mrs. Hudson had come in with a card upon a tray.
I took it up and glanced at it.

“ Why, here it is 1 ” I cried in amazement. “ This
is a different initial. John Garrideb, Counsellor at
Law, Moorville, Kansas, U.S.A.”

Holmes smiled as he looked at the card. " I am
afraid you must make yet another effort, Watson,”
said he. ’ * This gentleman is also in the plot already,
though 1 certainly did not expect to see him this
morning. However, he is in a position to tell us a
good deal which I want to know.”

A moment later he was in the room. Mr. John
Garrideb, Counsellor at Law, was a short, powerful
man with the round, fresh, clean-shaven face char-

THE THREE GARRIDEBS 147

acteristic of so many American men of affairs. The
general effect was chubby and rather childlike, so
that one received the impression of quite a young
man with a broad set smile upon his face. His eyes,
however, were arresting. Seldom in any human
head have I seen a pair which bespoke a more intense
inward life, so bright were they, so alert, so respon-
sive to every change of thought. His accent was
American, but was not accompanied by any eccen-
tricity of speech.

*' Mr. Holmes ? ” he asked, glancing from one to
the other. “ Ah, yes ! Your pictures are not unlike
you, sir, if I may say so. I believe you have had a
letter from my namesake, Mr. Nathan Garrideb,
have you not ? "

" Pray sit down,” said Sherlock Holmes. “ We
shall, I fancy, have a good deal to discuss." He
took up his sheets of foolscap. " You are, of course,
the Mr. John Garrideb mentioned in this document.
But surely you have been in England some time ? ”
" Why do you say that, Mr. Holmes ? ” I seemed
to read sudden suspicion in those expressive eyes.
“ Your whole outfit is English."

Mr. Garrideb forced a laugh. ** I’ve read of
your tricks, Mr. Holmes, but I never thought I would
be the subject of them. Where do you read that ? ”
'* The shoulder cut of your coat, the toes of your
boots— could anyone doubt it ? ”

“ Well, well, I had no idea I was so obvious a
Britisher. But business brought me over here some
time ago, and so, as you say, my outfit is nearly all
London. However, I guess your time is of value,
and we did not meet to talk about the cut of my

148 CASE-BOOK OF SHERLOCK HOLMES

socks. What about getting down to that paper
you hold in your hand ? "

Holmes had in some way ruffled our visitor, whose
chubby face had assumed a far less amiable expres-
sion.

“ Patience 1 Patience, Mr. Garrideb ! ” said my
friend in a soothing voice. “ Dr. Watson would tell
you that these little digressions of mine sometimes
prove in the end to have some bearing on the matter.
But why did Mr. Nathan Garrideb not come with
you ? ”

" Why did he ever drag you into it at all ? " asked
our visitor, with a sudden outflame of anger. ‘ ‘ What
in thunder had you to do with it ? Here was a bit
of professional business between two gentlemen, and
one of them must needs call in a detective ! I saw
him this morning, and he told me this fool-trick he
had played me, and that's why I am here. But I
feel bad about it, all the same.”

” There was no reflection upon you, Mr. Garrideb.
It was simply zeal upon his part to gain your end
— an end which is, I understand, equally vital for
both of you. He knew that I had means of getting
information, and, therefore, it was very natural that
he should apply to me.”

Our visitor’s angry face gradually cleared.

" Well, that puts it different,” said he. " When
I went to see him this morning and he told me he
had sent to a detective, I just asked for your address
and came right away. I don’t want police butting
into a private matter. But if you are content just
to help us find the man, there can be no harm in
that.”

THE THREE GARRIDEBS

149

" Well.that is just how it stands/’ said Holmes.
“ And now, sir, since you are here, we had best have
a clear account from your own lips. My friend
here knows nothing of the details.”

Mr. Garrideb surveyed me with not too friendly a
gaze.

" Need he know ? ” he asked.

“ We usually work together.”

“ Well, there’s no reason it should be kept a secret.
I’ll give you the facts as short as I can make them.
If you came from Kansas I would not need to
explain to you who Alexander Hamilton Garrideb
was. He made his money in real estate, and after-
wards in the wheat pit at Chicago, but he spent it
in buying up as much land as would make one of
your counties, lying along the Arkansas River, west
of Fort Dodge. It’s grazing-land and lumber-land
and arable-land and mineralized- land, and just every
sort of land that brings dollars to the man that
owns it.

“ He had no kith nor kin — or, if he had, I never
heard of it. But he took a kind of pride in the queer-
ness of his name. That was what brought us to-
gether. I was in the law at Topeka, and one day I
had a visit from the old man, and he was tickled to
death to meet another man with his own name. It
was his pet fad, and he was dead set to find out if
there were any more Garridebs in the world. * Find
me another ! ' said he. I told him I was a busy
man and could not spend my life hiking round the
world in search of Garridebs. ' None the less,' said
he, ’ that is just what you will do if things pan out
as I planned them.’ I thought he was joking, but

150 CASE-BOOK OF SHERLOCK HOLMES

there was a powerful lot of meaning in the words, as
I was soon to discover.

“ For he died within a year of saying them, and
he left a will behind him. It was the queerest will
that has ever been filed in the State of Kansas. His
property was divided into three parts, and I was to
have one on condition that I found two Garridebs
who would share the remainder. It's five million
dollars for each if it is a cent, but we can't
lay a finger on it until we all three stand in a
row.

“ It was so big a chance that I just let my legal
practice slide and I set forth looking for Garridebs.
There is not one in the United States. I went
through it, sir, with a fine-toothed comb and never
a Garrideb could I catch. Then I tried the old
country. Sure enough there was the name in the
London Telephone Directory. I went after him two
days ago and explained the whole matter to him.
But he is a lone man, like myself, with some women
relations, but no men. It says three adult men in
the will. So you see we still have a vacancy, and if
you can help to fill it we will be very ready to pay
your charges.”

“ Well, Watson,” said Holmes, with a smile, ** I
said it was rather whimsical, did I not ? I should
have thought, sir, that your obvious way was to
advertise in the agony columns of the papers.”

“ I have done that, Mr. Holmes. No replies.”

" Dear me ! Well, it is certainly a most curious
little problem. I may take a glance at it in my
leisure. By the way, it is curious that you should
have come from Topeka. I used to have a corre-

THE THREE GARRIDEBS

151

spondent — he is dead now— old Dr. Lysander Starr,
who was Mayor in 1890."

" Good old Dr. Starr I ” said our visitor. *' His
name is still honoured. Well, Mr. Holmes, I sup-
pose all we can do is to report to you and let you
know how we progress. I reckon you will hear
within a day or two.” With this assurance our
American bowed and departed.

Holmes had lit his pipe, and he sat for some time
with a curious smile upon his face.

“ Well ? ” I asked at last.

** I am wondering, Watson — just wondering 1 ”

" At what ? ”

Holmes took his pipe from his lips.

“ I was wondering, Watson, what on earth could
be the object of this man in telling us such a rig-
marole of lies. I nearly asked him so — for there
are times when a brutal frontal attack is the best
policy — but I judged it better to let him think he
had fooled us. Here is a man with an English coat
frayed at the elbow and trousers bagged at the knee
with a year's wear, and yet by this document and
by his own account he is a provincial American
lately landed in London. There have been no adver-
tisements in the agony columns. You know .that I
miss nothing there. They are my favourite covert
for putting up a bird, and I would never have over-
looked such a cock pheasant as that * I never knew
a Dr. Lysander Starr of Topeka. Touch him where
you would he was false. I think the fellow is really
an American, but he has worn his accent smooth
with years of London. What is his game, then,
and what motive lies behind this preposterous search

152 CASE-BOOK OF SHERLOCK HOLMES

for Ganidebs ? It’s worth our attention, for, grant-
ing that the man is a rascal, he is certainly a complex
and ingenious one. We must now find out if our
other correspondent is a fraud also. Just ring him
up, Watson.”

I did so, and heard a thin, quavering voice at the
other end of the line.

“ Yes, yes, I am Mr. Nathan Garrideb. Is Mr.
Holmes there ? I should very much like to have a
word with Mr. Holmes.”

My friend took the instrument and I heard the
usual syncopated dialogue.

“Yes, he has been here. I understand that you
don't know him. . . . How long ? . . . Only two
days f . . . Yes, yes, of course, it is a most cap-
tivating prospect. Will you be at home this even-
ing ? I suppose your namesake will not be there ?

. . . Very good, we will come then, for I would
rather have a chat without him. . . . Dr. Watson
will come with me. ... I understood from your
note that you did not go out often. . . . Well, we
shall be round about six. You need not mention it
to the American lawyer. . . . Very good. Good-
bye 1 ”

It was twilight of a lovely spring evening, and
even Little Ryder Street, on? of the smaller off-
shoots from the Edgware Road, within a stone-cast
of old Tyburn Tree of evil memory, looked golden
and wonderful in the slanting rays of the setting sun.
The particular house to which we were directed was
a large, old-fashioned. Early Georgian edifice with a
flat brick face broken only by two deep bay windows
on the ground floor. It was on this ground floor

THE THREE GARRIDEBS 153

that our client lived, and, indeed, the low windows
proved to be the front of the huge room in which
he spent his waking hours. Holmes pointed as we
passed to the small brass plate which bore the
curious name.

“ Up some years, Watson," he remarked, indi-
cating its discoloured surface. "It’s his real name,
anyhow, and that is something to note."

The house had a common stair, and there were a
number of names painted in the hall, some indicating
offices and some private chambers. It was not a
collection of residential flats, but rather the abode of
Bohemian bachelors. Our client opened the door
for us himself and apologized by saying that the
woman in charge left at four o’clock. Mr. Nathan
Garrideb proved to be a very tall, loose-jointed,
round-backed person, gaunt and bald, some sixty-
odd years of age. He had a cadaverous face, with
the dull dead skin of a man to whom exercise was
unknown. Large round spectacles and a small
projecting goat’s beard combined with his stooping
attitude to give him an expression of peering curio-
sity. The general effect, however, was amiable,
though eccentric.

The room was as curious as its occupant. It
looked like a small museum. It was both broad
and deep, with cupboards and cabinets all round,
crowded with specimens, geological and anatomical.
Cases of butterflies and moths flanked each side of
the entrance. A large table in the centre was littered
with all sorts of debris, while the tall brass tube of a
powerful microscope bristled up amongst them. As
I glanced round I was surprised at the universality

154 CASE-BOOK OF SHERLOCK HOLMES

of the man’s interests. Here was a case of ancient
coins. There was a cabinet of flint instruments.
Behind his central table was a large cupboard of
fossil bones. Above was a line of plaster skulls
with such names as “ Neanderthal,” " Heidelberg,”
” Cromagnon ” printed beneath them. It was
dear that he was a student of many subjects. As
he stood in front of us now, he held a piece of chamois
leather in his right hand with which he was polishing
a coin.

“ Syracusan — of the best period,” he explained,
holding it up. “ They degenerated greatly towards
the end. At their best I hold them supreme, though
some prefer the Alexandrian school. You will find
a chair here, Mr. Holmes. Pray allow me to clear
these bones. And you, sir — ah, yes. Dr. Watson —
if you would have the goodness to put the Japanese
vase to one side. You see round me my little inter-
ests in life. My doctor lectures me about never
going out, but why should I go out when I have so
much to hold me here ? I can assure you that the
adequate cataloguing of one of those cabinets would
take me three good months.”

Holmes looked round him with curiosity.

" But do you tell me that you never go out ? ” he
said

“Now and again I drive down to Sotheby’s or
Christie’s. Otherwise 1 very seldom leave my room.
I am not too strong, and my researches are very
absorbing. But you can imagine, Mr. Holmes, what
a terrific shock — pleasant but terrific — it was for me
when I heard of this unparalleled good fortune. It
only needs one more Garrideb to complete the

THE THREE GARRIDEBS 153

matter, and surely we can find one. I had a brother,
bat he is dead, and female relatives are disqualified.
But there must surely be others in the world. I
had heard that you handled strange cases, and that
was why I sent to you. Of course, this American
gentleman is quite right, and I should have taken
his advice first, but I acted for the best."

“ I think you acted very wisely indeed," said
Holmes. “ But are you really anxious to acquire an
estate in America ? ”

"Certainly not, sir. Nothing would induce me
to leave my collection. But this gentleman has
assured me that he will buy me out as soon as we
have established our claim. Five million dollars
was the sum named. There are a dozen specimens
in the market at the present moment which fill gaps
in my collection, and which I am unable to. purchase
for want of a few hundred pounds. Just think what
I could do with five million dollars. Why, I have
the nucleus of a national collection. I shall be the
Hans Sloane of my age.”

His eyes gleamed behind his great spectacles. It
was very clear that no pains would be spared by
Mr. Nathan Garrideb in finding a namesake.

“ I merely called to make your acquaintance, and
there is no reason why I should interrupt your
studies,” said Holmes. “ I prefer to establish per-
sonal touch with those with whom I do business.
There are few questions I need ask, for I have your
very clear narrative in my pocket, and I filled up the
blanks when this American gentleman called. I
understand that up to this week you were unaware
of his existence.”

156 CASE-BOOK OF SHERLOCK HOLMES

“That is so. He called last Tuesday."

“ Did he tell you of our interview to-day ? "

" Yes, he came straight back to me. He had been
very angry.”

" Why should he be angry ? ”

“ He seemed to think it was some reflection on
his honour. But he was quite cheerful again when
he returned."

" Did he suggest any course of action ? "

“No, sir, he did not."

“ Has he had, or asked for, any money from
you ? "

“ No, sir, never ! "

“ You see no possible object he has in view ? "

“None, except what he states."

“Did you tell him of our telephone appoint-
ment ? "

“ Yes, sir, I did.”

Holmes was lost in thought. I could see that he
was puzded.

“ Have you any articles of great value in your
collection ? ”

“ No, sir. I am not a rich man. It is a good
collection, but not a very valuable one."

“ You have no fear of burglars ? "

“ Not the least.”

“ How long have you been in these rooms ? "

“ Nearly five years.”

Holmes’s cross-examination was interrupted by
an imperative knocking at the door. No sooner
had our client unlatched it than the American lawyer
burst excitedly into the room.

“ Here you are I " he cried, waving a paper over

THE THREE GARRIDEBS 157

his head. “ I thought I should be in time to get
you. Mr. Nathan Garrideb, my congratulations!
You are a rich man, sir. Our business is happily
finished and all is well. As to you, Mr. Holmes, we
can only say we are sorry if we have given you any
useless trouble.”

He handed over the paper to our client, who stood
staring at a marked advertisement. Holmes and 1
leaned forward and read it over his shoulder. This
is how it ran :

HOWARb GARRIDEB.

Constructor of Agricultural Machinery.

Binders, reapers, steam and hand plows, drills,
harrows, farmers' carts, buckboards, and all other
appliances.

Estimates for Artesian Wells.

Apply Grosvenor Buildings, Aston.

“ Glorious ! " gasped our host. *' That makes
our third man.”

“ I had opened up inquiries in Birmingham,” said
the American, " and my agent there has sent me
this advertisement from a local paper. We must
hustle and put the thing through. I have written
to this man and told him that you will see him in
his office to-morrow afternoon at four o’clock.”

** You want me to see him ? ”

" What do you say, Mr. Holmes ? Don’t you
think it would be wiser ? Here am I, a wandering
American with a wonderful tale. Why should he
believe what I tell him ? But you are a Britisher

158 CASE-BOOK OF SHERLOCK HOLMES

with solid references, and he is bound to take notice
of what you say. I would go with you if you wished,
but I have a very busy day to-morrow, and I could
always follow you if you are in any trouble.”

“ Well, I have not made such a journey for years.”

“ It is nothing, Mr. Garrideb. I have figured out
your connections. You leave at twelve and should
be there soon after two. Then you can be back the
same night. All you have to do is to see this man,
explain the matter, and get an affidavit of his exist-
ence. By the Lord I " he added hotly, “ consider-
ing I’ve come all the way from the centre of America,
it is surely little enough if you go a hundred miles
in order to put this matter through.”

" Quite so,” said Holmes. “ I think what this
gentleman says is very true."

Mr. Nathan Garrideb shrugged his shoulders with
a disconsolate air. “ Well, if you insist I shall go,”
said he. " It is certainly hard for me to refuse you
anything, considering the glory of hope that you
have brought into my life.”

“ Then that is agreed," said Holmes, *' and no
doubt you will let me have a report as soon as you
can.”

" I’ll see to that,” said the American. “ Well,”
he added, looking at his watch, “ I’ll have to get on.
I’ll call to-morrow, Mr. Nathan, and see you off
to Birmingham. Coming my way, Mr. Holmes ?
Well, then, good-bye, and we may have good news
for you to-monow night.”

I noticed that my friend’s face cleared when the
American left the room, and the look of thoughtful
perplexity had vanished.

THE THREE GARRIDEBS 159

*' I wish I could look over your collection, Mr.
Garrideb,” said he. " In my profession all sorts of
odd knowledge comes useful, and this room of yours
is a storehouse of it.”

Our client shone with pleasure and his eyes
gleamed from behind his big glasses.

“ I had always heard, sir, that you were a very
intelligent man,” said he. “ I could take you round
now, if you have the time.”

" Unfortunately, I have not. But these speci-
mens are so well labelled and classified that they
hardly need your personal explanation. If I should
be able to look in to-morrow, I presume that there
would be no objection to my glancing over them ? ”

“None at all. You are most welcome. The
place will, of course, be shut up, but Mrs. Saunders
is in the basement up to four o'clock and would let
you in with her key.”

“ Well, I happen to be clear to-morrow afternoon.
If you would say a word to Mrs. Saunders it would
be quite in order. By the way, who is your house-
agent ? ”

Our client was amazed at the sudden question.

" Holloway and Steele, in the Edgware Road.
But why ? "

“ I am a bit of an archaeologist myself when it
comes to houses,” said Holmes, laughing. “ I was
wondering if this was Queen Anne or Georgian.”

“ Georgian, beyond doubt.”

“ Really. I should have thought a little earlier.
However, it is easily ascertained. Well, good-bye,
Mr. Garrideb, and may you have every success in
your Birmingham journey."

i6o CASE-BOOK OF SHERLOCK HOLMES

The house-agent's was dose by, but we found that
it was dosed for the day, so we made our way back
to Baker Street. It was not till after dinner that
Holmes reverted to the subject.

“ Our little problem draws to a close," said he.
“ No doubt you have outlined the solution in your
own mind."

“ I can make neither head nor tail of it."

“ The head is surely clear enough and the tail
we should see to-morrow. Did you notice nothing
curious about that advertisement ? "

** I saw that the word ‘ plough ' was misspelt."

" Oh, you did notice that, did you ? Come, Wat-
son, you improve all the time. Yes, it was bad
English but good American. The printer had set
it up as received. Then the buckboards. That is
American also. And artesian wells are commoner
with them than with us. It was a typical American
advertisement, but purporting to be from an Eng-
lish firm. What do you make of that ? "

“ I can only suppose that this American lawyer
put it in himself. What his object was I fail to
understand.”

" Well, there are alternative explanations. Any-
how, he wanted to get this good old fossil up to Bir-
mingham. That is very clear. I might have told
him that he was clearly going on a wild-goose chase,
but, on second thoughts, it seemed better to clear
the stage by letting him go. To-morrow, Watson —
well, to-morrow will speak for itself."

Holmes was up and out early. When he returned
at lunch-time I noticed that his face was very grave.

' THE THREE GARRIDEBS 161

"This is a more serious matter than I had ex-
pected, Watson," said he. “ It is fair to tell you so,
though I know it will only be an additional reason
to you for running your head into danger. I should
know my Watson by now. But there is danger,
and you should know it.”

“ Well, it is not the first we have shared. Holmes.
I hope it may not be the last. What is the particular
danger this time ? ”

“We are up against a very hard case. I have
identified Mr. John Garrideb, Counsellor at Law.
He is none other than ‘ Killer ’ Evans, of sinister
and murderous reputation.”

“ I fear I am none the wiser.”

“ Ah, it is not part of your profession to carry
about a portable Newgate Calendar in your memory.
I have been down to see friend Lestrade at the Yard.
There may be an occasional want of imaginative
intuition down there, but they lead the world for
thoroughness and method. I had an idea that we
might get on the track of our American friend in their
records. Sure enough, I found his chubby face
smiling up at me from the Rogues’ Portrait Gallery.
James Winter, alias Morecroft, alias Killer Evans,
was the inscription below.” Holmes drew an enve-
lope from his pocket. “ I scribbled down a few
points from his dossier. Aged forty-four. Native
of Chicago. Known to have shot three men in the
States. Escaped from penitentiary through political
influence. Came to London in 1893. Shot a man
over cards in a night club in the Waterloo Road in
January, 1895. Man died, but he was shown to have
been the aggressor in the row. Dead man was

162 CASE-BOOK OF SHERLOCK HOLMES

identified as Rodger Prescott, famous as forger and
coiner in Chicago. Killer Evans released in 1901.
Has been under police supervision since, but so far
as known has led an honest life. Very dangerous
man, usually carries arms and is prepared to use

them. That is our bird, Watson — a sporting bird,
as you must admit.”

“ But what is his game ? ”

“ Well, it begins to define itself. I have been to
the house-agents. Our client, as he told us, has
been there five years. It was unlet for a year before

then. The previous tenant was a gentleman at
large named Waldron. Waldron’s appearance was
well remembered at the office. He had suddenly
vanished and nothing more been heard of him. He
was a tall, bearded man with very dark features.
Now, Prescott, the man whom Killer Evans had
shot, was, according to Scotland Yard, a tall, dark
man with a beard. As a working hypothesis, I
think we may take it that Prescott, the American
criminal, used to live in the very room which our
innocent friend now devotes to his museum. So at
last we get a link, you see.”

" And the next link ? ”

“Well, we must go now and look for that.”

He took a revolver from the drawer and handed
it to me.

“ I have my old favourite with me. If our Wild
West friend tries to live up to his nickname, we must
be ready for him. I’ll give you an hour for a siesta,
Watson, and then I think it will be time for our
Ryder Street adventure.”

It was just four o’clock when we reached the

THE THREE GARRIDEBS 163

curious apartment of Nathan Garrideb. Mrs. Saun-
ders, the caretaker, was about to leave, but she had
no hesitation in admitting us, for the door shut with
a spring lock and Holmes promised to see that all
was safe before we left. Shortly afterwards the outer
door closed, her bonnet passed the bow window, and
we knew that we were alone in the lower floor of the
house. Holmes made a rapid examination of the
premises. There was one cupboard in a dark comer
which stood out a little from the wall. It was be-
hind this that we eventually crouched, while Holmes
in a whisper outlined his intentions.

“ He wanted to get our amiable friend out of his
room — that is very clear, and, as the collector never
went out, it took some planning to do it. The whole
of this Garrideb invention was apparently for no
other end. I must say, Watson, that there is a
certain devilish ingenuity about it. even if the queer
name of the tenant did give him an opening which
he could hardly have expected. He wove his plot
with remarkable cunning.”

“ But what did he want ? ”

“ Well, that is what we are here to find out. It
has nothing whatever to do with our client, so far as
I can read the situation. It is something connected
with the man he murdered — the man who may have
been his confederate in crime. There is some guilty
secret in the room. That is how I read it. At first
I thought our friend might have something in his
collection more valuable than he knew — something
worth the attention of a big criminal. But the fact
that Rodger Prescott of evil memory inhabited
these rooms points to some deeper reason. Well,

164 CASE-BOOK OF SHERLOCK HOLMES

Watson, we can but possess our souls in patience and
see what the hour may bring."

That hour was not long in striking. We crouched
closer in the shadow as we heard the outer door
open and shut. Then came the sharp, metallic snap
of a key, and the American was in the room. He
closed the door softly behind him, took a sharp
glance around him to see that all was safe, threw
off his overcoat, and walked up to the central table
with the brisk manner of one who knows exactly
what he has to do and how to do it. He pushed the
table to one side, tore up the square of carpet on
which it rested, rolled it completely back, and then,
drawing a jemmy from his inside pocket, he knelt
down and worked vigorously upon the floor. Pres-
ently we heard the sound of sliding boards, and an
instant later a square had opened in the planks.
Killer Evans struck a match, lit a stump of candle,
and vanished from our view.

Clearly our moment had come. Holmes touched
my wrist as a signal, and together we stole across to
the open trapdoor. Gently as we moved, however,
the old floor must have creaked under our feet, for
the head of our American, peering anxiously round,
emerged suddenly from the open space. His face
turned upon us with a glare of baffled rage, which
gradually softened into a rather shamefaced grin
as he realized that two pistols were pointed at his
head. *

“ Well, well ! ” said he, coolly, as he scrambled to
the surface. " I guess you have been one too many
for me, Mr. Holmes. Saw through my game, I sup-
pose, and played me for a sucker from the first.

THE THREE GARRIDEBS 165

Well, sir, I hand it to you; you have me beat
and ”

In an instant he had whisked out a revolver from
his breast and had fired two shots. I felt a sudden
hot sear as if a red-hot iron had been pressed to my
thigh. There was a crash as Holmes's pistol came
down on the man's head. I had a vision of him
sprawling upon the floor with blood running down
his face while Holmes rummaged him for weapons.
Then my friend’s wiry arms were round me and he
was leading me to a chair.

*' You're not hurt, Watson ? For God’s sake, say
that you are not hurt ! ”

It was worth a wound — it was worth many wounds
— to know the depth of loyalty and love which lay
behind that cold mask. The dear, hard eyes were
dimmed for a moment, and the firm lips were shak-
ing. For the one and only time I, caught a glimpse
of a great heart as well as of a great brain. All
my years of humble but single-minded service cul-
minated in that moment of revelation.

“ It’s nothing. Holmes. It's a mere scratch.”

He had ripped up my trousers with his pocket-
knife.

“ You are right,” he cried, with an immense sigh
of relief. " It is quite superficial.” His face set
like flint as he glared at our prisoner, who was sitting
up with a dazed face. “ By the Lord, it is as well
for you. If you had killed Watson, you would not
have got out of this room alive. Now, sir, what have
you to say for yourself ? ”

He had nothing to say for himself. He only lay
and scowled. I leaned on Holmes's arm, and to-

x66 CASE-BOOK OF SHERLOCK HOLMES

gether we looked down into the small cellar which
had been disclosed by the secret flap. It was still
illuminated by the candle which Evans had taken
down with him. Our eyes fell upon a mass of rusted
machinery, great rolls of paper, a litter of bottles,
and, neatly arranged upon a small table, a number of
neat little bundles.

" A printing press — a counterfeiter’s outfit," said
Holmes.

" Yes, sir,” said our prisoner, staggering slowly to
his feet and then sinking into the chair. "The
greatest counterfeiter London ever saw. That’s
Prescott’s machine, and those bundles on the table
are two thousand of Prescott's notes worth a hundred
each and fit to pass anywhere. Help yourselves,
gentlemen. Call it a deal and let me beat it.”

Holmes laughed.

“ We don’t do things like that, Mr. Evans. There
is no bolt-hole for you in this country. You shot
this man Prescott, did you not ? ”

“ Yes, sir, and got five years for it, though it was
he who pulled on me. Five years — when I should
have had a medal the size of a soup plate. No living
man could tell a Prescott from a Bank of England,
and if I hadn’t put him out he would have flooded
London with them. I was the only one in the world
who knew where he made them. Can you wonder
that I wanted to get to the place ? And can you
wonder that when I found this crazy boob of a bug-
hunter with the queer name squatting right on the
top of it, and never quitting his room, I had to do the
best I could to shift him ? Maybe I would have
been wiser if I had put him away. It would have

THE THREE GARRIDEBS 167

been easy enough, but I’m a soft-hearted guy that
can’t begin shooting unless the other man has a
gun also.w But say, Mr. Holmes, what have I done
wrong, anyhow ? I've not used this plant. I've
not hurt this old stiff. Where do you get me ? "

“ Only attempted murder, so far as I can see,”
said Holmes. “ But that’s not our job. They take
that at the next stage. What we wanted at present
was just your sweet self. Please give the Yard a
call, Watson. It won’t be entirely unexpected.”

So those were the facts about Killer Evans and his
remarkable invention of the three Garridebs. We
heard later that our poor old friend never got over
the shock of his dissipated dreams. When his castle
in the air fell down, it buried him beneath the ruins.
He was last heard of at a nursing-home in Brixton.
It was a glad day at the Yard when the Prescott
outfit was discovered, for, though they knew that it
existed, they had never been able, after the death of
the man, to find out where it was. Evans had indeed
done great service and caused several worthy C.I.D.
men to sleep the sounder, for the counterfeiter stands
in a class by himself as a public danger. They would
willingly have subscribed to that soup-plate medal
of which the criminal had spoken, but an unappre-
ciative Bench took a less favourable view, and the
Killer returned to those shades from which he had
just emerged.

VII

THE PROBLEM OF THOR BRIDGE

S OMEWHERE in the vaults of the bank of Cox
and Co., at Charing Cross, there is a travel-
worn and battered tin dispatch-box with my name,
John H. Watson, M.D., Late Indian Army, painted
upon the lid. It is crammed with papers, nearly
'all of which are records of cases to illustrate the
curious problems which Mr. Sherlock Holmes had
at various times to examine. Some, and not the
least interesting, were complete failures, and as
such 'will hardly bear narrating, since no final
explanation is forthcoming. A problem without a
solution may interest the student, but can hardly
fail to annoy the casual reader: Among these un-
finished tales is that of Mr. James Phillimore, who,
stepping back into his own house to get his umbrella,
was never more seen in this world. No less remark-
able is that of the cutter Alicia, which sailed one
spring morning into a small patch of mist from where
she never again emerged, nor was anything further
ever heard of herself and her crew, r A third case
worthy of note is that of Isadora Persano, the well-
known journalist and duellist, who was found stark
staring mad with a matchbox in front of him which
contained a remarkable worm, said to be unknown
to science. Apart from these unfathomed cases,

168

THOR BRIDGE

x6g

there are some which involve the secrets of private
families to an extent which would mean consterna-
tion in many exalted quarters if it were thought
possible that they might find their way into print.

I need not say that such a breach of confidence is
unthinkable, and that these records will be separated
and destroyed now that my friend has time to turn
his energies to the matter. There remain a consider-
able residue of cases of greater or less interest which q
I might have edited before had I not feared to give
the public a surfeit which might react upon the
reputation of the man whom above all others I
revere. In some I was myself concerned and can
speak as an eye-witness, while in others I was either
not present or played so small a part that they could
only be told as by a third person. The following
narrative is drawn from my own experience.

It was a wild morning in October, and I observed
as I was dressing how the last remaining leaves were
being whirled from the solitary plane tree which
graces the yard behind our house. I descended
to breakfast prepared to find my companion in
depressed spirits, for, like all great artists, he was
easily impressed by his surroundings. On the con-
trary, I found that he had nearly finished his meal,
and that his mood was particularly bright and joy-
ous, with that somewhat sinister cheerfulness which
was characteristic of his lighter moments.

“ You have a case, Holmes ? ” I remarked.

'* The faculty of deduction is certainly contagious,
Watson, ’ ' he answered. ‘ ‘ It has enabled you to probe
my secret. Yes, I have a case. After a month of tri-
vialities and stagnation the wheels move once more.”

170 CASE-BOOK OF SHERLOCK HOLMES
“ Might I share it ? ”

" There is little to share, but we may discuss it
when you have consumed the two hard-boiled eggs
with which our new cook has favoured us. Their
condition may not be unconnected with the copy of
the Family Her did which I observed yesterday upon
the hall-table. Even so trivial a matter as cooking
an egg demands an attention which is conscious of
the passage of time, and incompatible with the love
romance in that excellent periodical.”

A quarter of an hour later the table had been
cleared and we were face to face. He had drawn a
letter from his pocket.

“You have heard of Neil Gibson, the Gold
King ? ” he said „

“ You mean the American Senator ? ”

“ Well, he was once Senator for some Western
State, but is better known as the greatest gold-
mining magnate in the world.”

“ Yes, I know of him. He has surely lived in
England for some time. His name is very familiar. * '
“ Yes ; he bought a considerable estate in Hamp-
shire some five years ago. Possibly you have
already heard of the tragic end of his wife ? ”

“ Of course. I remember it now. That is why
the name is familiar. But I really know nothing of
the details.”

Holmes waved his hand towards some papers on
a chair. “ I had no idea that the case was coming
my way or I should have had my extracts ready,”
said he. “ The fact is that the problem, though
exceedingly sensational, appeared to present no
difficulty. The interesting personality of the

THOR BRIDGE

171

accused does not obscure the clearness of the evi-
dence. That was the view taken by the coroner’s
jury and also in the police-court proceedings. It
is now referred to the Assizes at Winchester. I fear
it is a thankless business. I can discover. foots,
Watson, but I cannot change them. Unless some
entirely new and unexpected ones come to light I do
not see what my client can hope for."

“ Your client ? ”

" Ah, I forgot I had not told you. I am getting
into your involved habit, Watson, of telling a story
backwards. You had best read this first.”

The letter which he handed to me, written in a
bold, masterful hand, ran as follows :

Claridge’s Hotel, October 3rd.
Dear Mr. Sherlock Holmes, —

I can’t see the best woman God ever made go to
her death without doing all that is possible to save
her. I can't explain things — I can’t even try to
explain them, but I know beyond all doubt that Miss
Dunbar is innocent. You know the facts — who
doesn’t ? It has been the gossip of the country.
And never a voice raised for her I It’s the damned
injustice of it all that makes me crazy. That woman
has a heart that wouldn’t let her kill a fly. Well,
I’ll come at eleven to-morrow and see if you can get
some ray of light in the dark. Maybe I have a clue
and don't know it. Anyhow, all I know and all I
have and all I am are for your use if only you can
save her. If ever in your life you showed your
powers, put them now into this case.

Yours faithfully,

j J. Neil Gibson.

172 CASE-BOOK OF SHERLOCK HOLMES

"There you have it," said Sherlock Holmes,
knocking out the ashes of his after-breakfast pipe
and slowly refilling it. " That is the gentleman I
await. As to the story, you have hardly time to
master all these papers, so I must give it to you in
a nutshell if you are to take an intelligent interest
in the proceedings. This man is the greatest
financial power in the world, and a man, as I under-
stand, of most violent and formidable character.
He married a wife, the victim of this tragedy, of
whom I know nothing save that she was past her
prime, which was the more unfortunate as a very
attractive governess superintended the education
of two young children. These are the three people
concerned, and the scene is a grand old manor-house,
the centre of an historical English estate. Then as
to the tragedy. The wife was found in the grounds
nearly half a mile from the house, late at night, clad
in her dinner dress, with a shawl over her shoulders
and a revolver bullet through her brain. No weapon
was found near her and there was no local clue as
to the murder. No weapon near her, Watson —
mark that I The crime seems to have been com-
mitted late in the evening, and the body was found
by a gamekeeper about eleven o’clock, wheii it was
examined by the police and by a doctor before being
carried up to the house. Is this too condensed, or
can you follow it clearly ? ”

" It is all very clear. But why suspect the
governess ? "

“ Well, in the first place there is some very direct
evidence. A revolver with one discharged chamber
and a calibre which corresponded with the bullet

THOR BRIDGE

173

was found on the floor of her wardrobe." His eyes
fixed and he repeated in broken words, " On — the —
floor — of — her — wardrobe.” Then he sank into
silence, and I saw that some train of thought had
been set moving which I should be foolish to inter-
rupt. Suddenly with a start he emerged into brisk
life once more. " Yes, Watson, it was found.
Pretty damning, eh ? So the two juries thought.
Then the dead woman had a note upon her making
an appointment at that very place and signed by the
governess. How’s that ? Finally, there is the
motive. Senator Gibson is an attractive person.
If his wife dies, who more likely to succeed her than
the young lady who had already by all accounts
received pressing attentions from her employer.
Love, fortune, power, all depending upon one middle-
aged life. Ugly, Watson — very ugly 1 "

” Yes, indeed. Holmes.”

** Nor could she prove an alibi. On the contrary,
she had to admit that she was down near Thor
Bridge — that was the scene of the tragedy — about
that hour. She couldn’t deny it, for some passing
v.llager had seen her there.”

" That really seems final.”

" And yet, Watson — and yet ! This bridge — a
single broad span of stone with balustraded sides
— carries the drive over the narrowest part of a long,
deep, reed-girt sheet of water. Thor Mere it is
called. In the mouth of the bridge lay the dead
woman. Such are the main facts. But here, if I mis-
take not, is our client, considerably before his time.”

Billy had opened the door, but the name which
he announced was an unexpected one. Mr. Marlow

174 CASE-BOOK OF SHERLOCK HOLMES

Bates was a stranger to both of us. He was a thin,
nervous wisp of a man with frightened eyes, and a
twitching, hesitating manner — a man whom my own
professional eye would judge to be on the brink of
an absolute nervous breakdown.

“You seem agitated, Mr. Bates," said Holmes.
*' Pray sit down. I fear I can only give you a short
time, for I have an appointment at eleven."

" I know you have,” our visitor gasped, shooting
out short sentences like a man who is out of breath.
" Mr. Gibson is coming. Mr. Gibson is my employer.
I am manager of his estate. Mr. Holmes, he is a
villain — an infernal villain."

" Strong language, Mr. Bates.”

“ I have to be emphatic, Mr. Holmes, for the time
is so limited. I would not have him find me here
for the world. He is almost due now. But I was
so situated that I could not come earlier. His
secretary, Mr. Ferguson, only told me this morning
of his appointment with you.”

“ And you are his manager ? "

" I have given him notice. In a couple of weeks
I shall have shaken of! his accursed slavery. A hard
man, Mr. Holmes, hard to all about him. Those
public charities are a screen to cover his private
iniquities. But his wife was his chief victim. He
was brutal to her — yes, sir, brutal 1 How she came
by her death I do not know, but I am sure that he
had made her life a misery to her. She was a
creature of the Tropics, a Brazilian by birth, as no
doubt you know ? ”

** No ; it had escaped me.”

“ Tropical by birth and tropical by nature. A

THOR BRIDGE

175

child of the sun and of passion. She had loved him
as such women can love, but when her own physical
charms had faded — I am told that they once were
great — there was nothing to hold him. We all liked
her and felt for her and hated him for the way that
he treated her. But he is plausible and cunning.
That is all I have to say to you. Don’t take him at
his face value. There is more behind. Now I’ll go.
No, no, don’t detain me I He is almost due.”

With a frightened look at the clock our strange
visitor literally ran to the door and disappeared.

“ Well ! Well l ” said Holmes, after an interval
of silence. “ Mr. Gibson seems to have a nice loyal
household. But the warning is a useful one, and
now we can only wait till the man himself appears.”

Sharp at the hour we heard a heavy step upon the
stairs and the famous millionaire was shown into
the room. As I looked upon him I understood not
only the fears and dislike of his manager, but also
the execrations which so many business rivals have
heaped upon his head. If I were a sculptor and
desired to idealize the successful man of affairs, iron
of nerve and leathery of conscience, I should choose
Mr. Neil Gibson as my model. His tall, gaunt
craggy figure had a suggestion of hunger and
rapacity. An Abraham Lincoln keyed to base uses
instead of high ones would give some idea of the
man. His face might have been chiselled in granite,
hard-set, craggy, remorseless, with deep lines upon
it, the scars of many a crisis. Cold grey eyes, look-
ing shrewdly out from under bristling brows, sur-
veyed us each in turn. He bowed in perfunctory
fashion as Holmes mentioned my name, and then

176 CASE-BOOK OF SHERLOCK HOLMES

with a masterful air of possession he drew a chair
up to my companion and seated himself with his
bony knees almost touching him.

" Let me say right here, Mr. Holmes," he began,
" that money is nothing to me in* this case. You
can bum it if it's any use in lighting you to the
truth. This woman is innocent and this woman has
to be cleared, and it’s up to you to do it. Name
your figure 1 ”

" My professional charges are upon a fixed scale,"
said Holmes coldly. “I do not vary them, save
when I remit them altogether."

" Well, if dollars make no difference to you, think
of the reputation. If you pull this off every paper
in England and America will be booming you.
You'll be the talk of two continents.”

“ Thank you, Mr. Gibson, I do not think that I
am in need of booming. It may surprise you to
know that I prefer to work anonymously, and that
it is the problem itself which attracts me. But we
are wasting time. Let us get down to the facts.”

“ I think that you will find all the main ones in
the Press reports. I don’t know that I can add
anything which will help you. But if there is any-
thing you would wish more light upon — well, I am
here to give it.”

" Well, there is just one point."

“ What is it ? "

** What were the exact relations between you and
Miss Dunbar ? "

The Gold King gave a violent start, and half rose
from his chair. Then his massive calm came back
to him.

THOR BRIDGE

177

" I suppose you are within your rights — and may-
be doing your duty — in asking such a question,
Mr. Holmes.”

“ We will agree to suppose so,” said Holmes.

“ Then I can ‘assure you that our relations were
entirely and always those of an employer towards a
young lady whom he never conversed with, or ever saw,
save when she was in the company of his children.”

Holmes rose from his chair.

" I am a rather busy man, Mr. Gibson,” said he,
" and I have no time or taste for aimless conversa-
tions. I wish you good morning.”

Our visitor had risen also and his great loose figure
towered above Holmes. There was an angry gleam
from under those bristling brows and a tinge of
colour in the sallow cheeks.

*' What the devil do you mean by this, Mr.
Holmes ? Do you dismiss my case ? ”

" Well, Mr. Gibson, at least I dismiss you. I
should have thought my words were plain.”

" Plain enough, but what’s at the back of it ?
Raising the price on me, or afraid to tackle it, or
what ? I’ve a right to a plain answer.”

“ Well, perhaps you have,” saiid Holmes. “ I’ll
give you one. This case is quite sufficiently com-
plicated to start with, without the further difficulty
of false information.”

" Meaning that I lie.”

“ Well, I was trying to express it as delicately as
I could, but if you insist upon the word I will not
contradict you.”

I sprang to my feet, for the expression upon the
millionaire’s face was fiendish in its intensity, and

178 CASE-BOOK OF SHERLOCK HOLMES

he had raised his great knotted fist. Holmes smiled
languidly and reached his hand out for his pipe.

“ Don’t be noisy, Mr. Gibson. I find that after
breakfast even the smallest argument is unsettling.
I suggest that a stroll in the morning air and a little
quiet thought will be greatly to your advantage."

With an effort the Gold King mastered his fury.
I could not but admire him, for by a supreme self-
command he had turned in a minute from a hot flame
of anger to a frigid and contemptuous indifference.

“ Well, it's your choice. I guess you know how
to run your own business. I can’t make you touch
the case against your will. You've done yourself no
good this morning, Mr. Holmes, for I have broken
stronger men than you. No man ever crossed me
and was the better for it.”

" So many have said so, and yet here I am," said
Holmes, smiling. “ Well, good morning, Mr. Gibson.
You have a good deal yet to learn."

Our visitor made a noisy exit, but Holmes smoked
in imperturbable silence with dreamy eyes fixed
upon the ceiling.

“ Any views, Watson ? " he asked at last.

" Well, Holmes, I must confess that when I con-
sider that this is a man who would certainly brush
any obstacle from his path, and when I remember
that his wife may have been an obstacle and an
object of dislike, as that man Bates plainly told us,
it seems to me ”

" Exactly. And to me also.”

" But what were his relations with the governess
and how did you discover them ? ”

“ Bluff, Watson, bluff ! When I considered the

THOR BRIDGE

179

passionate, unconventional, unbusinesslike tone of
his letter, and contrasted it with his self-contained
manner and appearance, it was pretty clear that
there was some deep emotion which centred upon
the accused woman rather than upon the victim.
We’ve got to understand the exact relations of those
three people if we are to reach the truth. You saw
the frontal attack which I made upon him and how
imperturbably he received it. Then I bluffed him by
giving him the impression that I was absolutely cer-
tain, when in reality I was only extremely suspicious. ' '

" Perhaps he will come back ? ”

" He is sure to come back. He must come back.
He can’t leave it where it is. Ha 1 isn’t that a
ring ? Yes, there is his footstep. Well, Mr. Gibson,

I was just saying to Dr. Watson that you were some-
what overdue.”

The Gold King had re-entered the room in a more
chastened mood than he had left it. His wounded
pride still showed in his resentful eyes, but his
common sense had shown him that he must yield if
he would attain his end.

“ I’ve been thinking it over, Mr. Holmes, and I
feel that I have been hasty in taking your remarks *
amiss. You are justified in getting down to the
facts, whatever they may be, and I think the more
of you for it. I can assure you, however, that the
relations between Miss Dunbar and me don’t really
touch this case.”

" That is for me to decide, is it not ? ”

“ Yes, I guess that is so. You're like a surgeon
who wants every symptom before he can give his
diagnosis.”

180 CASE-BOOK OF SHERLOCK HOLMES

“ Exactly. That expresses it. And it is only a
patient who has an object in deceiving his surgeon
who would conceal the facts of his case.”

“ That may be so, but you will admit, Mr. Holmes,
that most men would shy off a bit when they are
asked point-blank what their relations with a woman
may be — if there is really some serious feeling in the
case. I guess most men have a little private reserve
of their own in some comer of their souls where they
don’t welcome intruders. And you burst suddenly
into it. But the object excuses you, since it was to
try and save her. Well, the stakes are down and the
reserve open and you can explore where you will.
What is it you want ? ”

" The truth.”

The Gold King paused for a moment as one who
marshals his thoughts. His grim, deep-lined face
had become even sadder and more grave.

" I can give it to you in a very few words, Mr.
Holmes,” said he at last. ” There are some things
that are painful as well as difficult to say, so I won’t
go deeper than is needful. I met my wife when I
was gold-hunting in Brazil. Maria Pinto was the
daughter of a Government official at Manaos, and
she was vexy beautiful. I was young and ardent
in those days, but even now, as I look back with
colder blood and ac more critical eye, I can see that
she was rare and wonderful in her beauty. It was a
deep rich nature, too, passionate, whole-hearted,
tropical, ill-balanced, very different from the Ameri-
can women whom I had known. Well, to make
a long story short, I loved her and I married her.
It was only when the romance had passed — and

THOR BRIDGE i8x

it lingered for years — that I realized that we had
nothing — absolutely nothing — in common. My love
faded. If hers had faded also it might have been
easier. But you know the wonderful way of women I
Do what I might nothing could turn her from me.
If I have been harsh to her, even brutal as some have
said, it has been because I knew that if I could kill
her love, or if it turned to hate, it would be easier
for both of us. But nothing changed her. She
adored me in those English woods as she had adored
me twenty years ago on the banks of the Amazon.
Do what I might, she was as devoted as ever.

“ Then came Miss Grace Dunbar. She answered
our advertisement and became governess to our two
children. Perhaps you have seen her portrait in the
papers. The whole world has proclaimed that she
also is a very beautiful woman. Now, I make no
pretence to be more moral than my neighbours, and
I will admit to you that I could not live under the
same roof with such a woman and in daily contact
with her without feeling a passionate regard for her.
Do you blame me, Mr. Holmes ? ”

“ I do not blame you for feeling it. I should
blame you if you expressed it, since this young lady
was in a sense under your protection.”

" Well, maybe so,” said the millionaire, though
for a moment the reproof had brought the old angry
gleam into his eyes. "I’m not pretending to be
any better than I am. I guess all my life I’ve been
a man that reached out his hand for what he wanted,
and I never wanted anything more than the love and
possession of that woman. I told her so.”

“ Oh, you did, did you ? ”

x8a CASE-BOOK OF SHERLOCK HOLMES

Holmes could look very formidable when he was
moved.

“ I said to her that if I could marry her I would,
but that it was out of my power. I said that money
was no object and that all I could do to make her
happy and comfortable would be done.”

" Very generous, I am sure,” said Holmes, with a
sneer.

“ See here, Mr. Holmes. I came to you on a
question of evidence, not on a question of morals.
I'm not asking for your criticism."

" It is only for the young lady’s sake that I touch
your case at all,” said Holmes sternly. “ I don’t
know that anything she is accused of is really worse
than what you have yourself admitted, that you have
tried to ruin a defenceless girl who was under your roof.
Some of you rich men have to be taught that all the
world cannot be bribed into condoning your offences. ’ '

To my surprise the Gold King took the reproof
with equanimity.

" That’s how I feel myself about it now. I thank
God that my plans did not work out as I intended.
She would have none of it, and she wanted to leave
the house instantly.”

“ Why did she not ? ”

“ Well, in the first place, others were dependent
upon her, and it was no light matter for her to let
them all down by sacrificing her living. When I
had sworn — as I did — that she should never be
molested again, she consented to remain. But there
was another reason. She knew the influence she had
over me, and that it was stronger than any other in-
fluence in the world. She wanted to use it for good.”

THOR BRIDGE

183

" How ? ”

'* Well, she knew something of my affairs. They
are large, Mr. Holmes — large beyond the belief of
an ordinary man. I can make or break — and it is
usually break. It wasn’t individuals only. It was
communities, cities, even nations. Business is a
hard game, and the weak go to the wall. I played
the game for all it was worth. I never squealed
myself and I never cared if the other fellow squealed.
But she saw it different. I guess she was right.
She believed and said that a fortune for one man
that was more than he needed should not be built
on ten thousand ruined men who were left without
the means of life. That was how she saw it, and I
guess she could see past the dollars to something that
was more lasting. She found that I listened to
what she said, and she believed she was serving the
world by influencing my actions. So she stayed —
and then this came along.”

“ Can you throw any light upon that ? ”

The Gold King paused for a minute or more, his
head sunk in his hands, lost in deep thought.

“ It’s very black against her. I can’t deny that.
And women lead an inward life and may do things
beyond the judgment of a man. At first I was so
rattled and taken aback that I was ready to think
she had been led away in some extraordinary fashion
that was clean against her usual nature. One ex-
planation came into my head. I give it to you,
Mr. Holmes, for what it is worth. There is no
doubt that my wife was bitterly jealous. There is
a soul-jealousy that can be as frantic as any body-
jealousy, and though my wife had no cause — and I

184 CASE-BOOK OF SHERLOCK HOLMES

think she understood this — for the latter, she was
aware that this English girl exerted an influence
upon my mind and my acts that she herself never
had. It was an influence for good, but that did not
mend the matter. She was crazy with hatred, and
the heat of the Amazon was always in her blood.
She might have planned to murder Miss Dunbar — or
we will say to threaten her with a gun and so frighten
her into leaving us. Then there might have been a
scuffle and the gun gone off and shot the woman
who held it.”

" That possibility had already occurred to me,”
said Holmes. “ Indeed, it is the only obvious
alternative to deliberate murder.”

“ But she utterly denies it.”

" Well, that is not final — is it ? One can under-
stand that- a woman placed in so awful a position
might hurry home still in her bewilderment holding
the revolver. She might even throw it down among
her clothes, hardly knowing what she was doing, and
when it was found she might try to lie her way out
by a total denial, since all explanation was impos-
sible. What is against such a supposition ? ”

“ Miss Dunbar herself.”

” Well, perhaps.”

Holmes looked at his watch. " I have no doubt
we can get the necessary permits this morning and
reach Winchester by the evening train. When I
have seen this young lady, it is very possible that I
may be of more use to you in the matter, though I
cannot promise that my conclusions will necessarily
be such as you desire.”

There was some delay in the official pass, and

THOR BRIDGE

185

instead of reaching Winchester that day we went
down to Thor Place, the Hampshire estate of Mr.
Neil Gibson. He did not accompany us himself,
but we had the address of Sergeant Coventry, of the
local police, who had first examined into the affair.
He was a tall, thin, cadaverous man, with a secretive
and mysterious manner, which conveyed the idea
that he knew or suspected a very great deal more
than he dared say. He had a trick, too, of suddenly
sinking his voice to a whisper as if he had come upon
something of vital importance, though the informa-
tion was usually commonplace enough. Behind
these tricks of manner he soon showed himself to
be a decent, honest fellow who was not too proud
to admit that he was out of his depth and would
welcome any help.

“ Anyhow, I’d rather have you than Scotland
Yard, Mr. Holmes,” said he. “ If the Yard gets
called into a case, then the local loses all credit for
success and may be blamed for failure. Now, you
play straight, so I've heard."

“ I need not appear in the matter at all,” said
Holmes, to the evident relief of our melancholy
acquaintance. ” If I can clear it up I don’t ask to
have my name mentioned.”

" Well, it’s very handsome of you, I am sure.
And your friend, Dr. Watson, can be trusted, I know.
Now, Mr. Holmes, as we walk down to the place
there is one question I should like to ask you. I’d
breathe it to no soul but you.” He looked round as
though he hardly dare utter the words. " Don’t
you think there might be a case against Mr. Neil
Gibson himself ? "

x86 CASE-BOOK OF SHERLOCK HOLMES

” I have been considering that.”

" You've not seen Miss Dunbar. She is a Wonder-
ful fine woman in every way. He may well have
wished his wife out of the road. And these Ameri-
cans are readier with pistols than our folk are. It
was his pistol, you know.”

“ Was that clearly made out ? ”

“ Yes, sir. It was one of a pair that he had.”

** One of a pair ? Where is the other ? ”

” Well, the gentleman has a lot of fire-arms of
one sort and another. We never quite matched that
particular pistol — but the box was made for two.”

” If it was one of £ pair you should surely be able
to match it.”

” Well, we have them all laid out at the house if
you would care to look them over.”

” Later, perhaps. I think we will walk down
together and have a look at the scene of the tragedy.”

This conversation had taken place in the little
front room of Sergeant Coventry's humble cottage
which served as the local police-station. A walk of
half a mile or so across a wind-swept heath, all gold
and bronze with the fading ferns, brought us to a
side-gate opening into the grounds of the Thor Place
estate. A path led us through the pheasant pre-
serves, and then from a clearing we saw the wide-
spread, half-timbered house, half Tudor and half
Georgian, upon the crest of the hill. Beside us there
was a long, reedy pool, constricted in the centre
where the main carriage drive passed over a stone
bridge, but swelling into small lakes on either side.
Our guide paused at the mouth of this bridge, and
he pointed to the ground.

THOR BRIDGE X87

“ That was where Mrs. Gibson’s body lay. I
marked it by that stone.”

“ I understand that you were there before it was
moved ? ”

" Yes ; they sent for me at once/*

“ Who did ? ”

“ Mr. Gibson himself. The moment the alarm
was given and he had rushed down with others from
the house, he insisted that nothing should be moved
until the police should arrive.”

“That was sensible. I gathered from the newspaper
report that the shot was fired from close quarters.”
“ Yes, sir, very close.” 5
" Near the right temple ? ”

” Just behind it, sir."

“ How did the body lie ? ”

“ On the back, sir. No trace of a struggle. No
marks. No weapon. The short note from Miss
Dunbar was clutched in her left hand.”

“ Clutched, you say ? ”

” Yes, sir ; we could hardly open the fingers.”

" That is of great importance. It excludes the
idea that anyone could have placed the note there
after death in order to furnish a false clue. Dear
me 1 The note, as I remember, was quite short.
' I will be at Thor Bridge at nine o’dock. — G. Dun-
bar.' Was that not so ? ”

” Yes, sir.”

" Did Miss Dunbar admit writing it ? ”

“ Yes, sir.”

“ What was her explanation ? ”

” Her defence was reserved for the Assizes. She
would say nothing.”

1 88 CASE-BOOK OF SHERLOCK HOLMES

“ The problem is certainly a very interestingbne.
The point of the letter is very obscure, is it not ? ”

“ Well, sir,” said the guide, “ it seemed, if I may
be so bold as to say so, the only really clear point
in the whole case.”

Holmes shook his head.

“ Granting that the letter is genuine and was really
written, it was certainly received some time before —
say one hour or two. Why, then, was this lady still
clasping it in her left hand ? Why should she carry
it so carefully ? She did not need to refer to it in
tiie interview. Does it not seem remarkable ? ”

” Well, sir, as you put it, perhaps it does.”

" I think I should like to sit quietly for a few
minutes and think it out.” He seated himself
upon the stone ledge of the bridge, and I could see
his quick grey eyes darting their questioning glances
in every direction. Suddenly he sprang up again and
ran across to the opposite parapet, whipped his lens
from his pocket, and began to examine the stonework.

" This is curious,” said he.

** Yes, sir ; we saw the chip on the ledge. I
expect it’s been done by some passer-by.”

Hie stonework was grey, but at this one point it
showed white for a space not larger than a sixpence.
When examined closely one could see that the
surface was chipped as by a sharp blow.

” It took some violence to do that,” said Holmes
thoughtfully. With his cane he struck the ledge
several times without leaving a mark. “ Yes, it was
a hard knock. In a curious place, too. It was not
from above but from below, for you see that it is
on the lower edge of the parapet.”

THOR BRIDGE

189

" But it is at least fifteen feet from the body.”

*' Yes, it is fifteen feet from the body. It may
have nothing to do with the matter, but it is a point
worth noting. I do not think that we have anything
more to learn here. There were no footsteps, you
say? ”

" The ground was iron hard, sir. There were no
traces at all.”

” Then we can go. We will go up to the house
first and look over these weapons of which you speak.
Then we shall get on to Winchester, for I should
desire to see Miss Dunbar before we go farther.”

Mr. Neil Gibson had not returned from town, but
we saw in the house the neurotic Mr. Bates who had
called upon us in the morning. He showed us with
a sinister relish the formidable array of fire-arms of
various shapes and sizes which his employer had
accumulated in the course of an adventurous life.

“ Mr. Gibson has his enemies, as anyone would
expect who knew him and his methods,” said he.
“ He sleeps with a loaded revolver in the drawer
beside his bed. He is a man of violence, sir, and
there are times when all of us are afraid of him. I
am sure that the poor lady who has passed was often
terrified.”

” Did you ever witness physical violence towards
her ? ”

” No, I cannot say that. But I have heard words
which were nearly as bad — words of cold, cutting
contempt, even before the servants.”

” Our millionaire does not seem to shine in private
life,” remarked Holmes, as we made our way to the
station. " Well, Watson, we have come on a good

190 CASE-BOOK OF SHERLOCK HOLMES

many facts, some of them new ones, and yet I seem
some way from my conclusion. In spite of the very
evident dislike which Mr. Bates has to his employer,
I gather from him that when the alarm came he was
undoubtedly in his library. Dinner was over at
eight-thirty and all was normal up to then. It is
true that the alarm was somewhat late in the evening,
but the tragedy certainly occurred about the hour
named in the note. There is no evidence at all that
Mr. Gibson had been out of doors since his return
from town at five o'clock. On the other hand. Miss
Dunbar, as I understand it, admits that she had
made an appointment to meet Mrs. Gibson at the
bridge. Beyond this she would say nothing, as her
lawyer had advised her to reserve her defence. We
have several very vital questions to ask that young
lady, and my mind will not be easy until we have
seen her. I must confess that the case would seem
to me to be very black against her if it were not for
one thing.”

“ And what is that. Holmes ? "

" The finding of the pistol in her wardrobe.”

“ Dear me. Holmes 1 ” I cried, “ that seemed to
me to be the most damning incident of all.”

“ Not so, Watson. It had struck me even at my
first perfunctory reading as very strange, and now
that I am in closer touch with the case it is my only
firm ground for hope. We must look for consistency.
Where there is a want of it we must suspect
deception.”

” I hardly follow you.”

“ Well now, Watson, suppose for a moment that
we visualize you in the character of a woman who.

THOR BRIDGE

m

in a cold, premeditated fashion, is about to get rid
of a rival. You have planned it. A note has been
written. The victim has come. You have your
weapon. The crime is done. It has been workman-
like and complete. Do you tell me that after carry-
ing out so crafty a crime you would now ruin your
reputation as a criminal by forgetting to fling your
weapon into those adjacent reed-beds which would
for ever cover it, but you must needs carry it care-
fully home and put it in your own wardrobe, the
very first place that would be searched ? Your best
friends would hardly call you a schemer, Watson,
and yet I could not picture you doing anything so
crude as that.”

" In the excitement of the moment ”

" No, no, Watson, I will not admit that it is
possible. Where a crime is coolly premeditated,
then the means of covering it are coolly premeditated
also. I hope, therefore, that we are in the presence
of a serious misconception.”

" But there is so much to explain."

" Well, we shall set about explaining it. When
once your point of view is changed, the very thing
which was so damning becomes a clue to the truth.
For example, there is this revolver. Miss Dunbar
disclaims all knowledge of it. On our new theory
she is speaking truth when she says so. Therefore,
it was placed in her wardrobe. Who placed it there ?
Someone who wished to incriminate her. Was not
that person the actual criminal ? You see how we
come at once upon a most fruitful line of inquiry.”

We were compelled to spend the night at Win-
chester, as the formalities had not yet been com-

192 CASE-BOOK OF SHERLOCK HOLMES

pleted, but next morning, in the company of Mr.
Joyce Cummings, the rising barrister who was
entrusted with the defence, we were allowed to see
the young lady in her cell. I had expected from all
that we had heard to see a beautiful woman, but I
can never forget the effect which Miss Dunbar pro-
duced upon me. It was no wonder that even the
masterful millionaire had found in her something
more powerful than himself — something which could
control and guide him. One felt, too, as one looked
at that strong, clear-cut, and yet sensitive face, that
even should she be capable of some impetuous deed,
none the less there was an innate nobility of char-
acter which would make her influence always for
the good. She was a brunette, tall, with a noble
figure and commanding presence, but her dark
eyes had in them the appealing, helpless expression
of the hunted creature who feels the nets around it,
but can see no way out from the toils. Now, as
she realized the presence and the help of my famous
friend, there came a touch of colour m her wan
cheeks and a light of hope began to glimmer in the
glance which she turned upon us.

“ Perhaps Mr. Neil Gibson has told you something
of what occurred between us ? " she asked, in a low,
agitated voice.

" Yes,” Holmes answered ; " you need not pain
yourself by entering into that part of the story.
After seeing you, I am prepared to accept Mr.
Gibson’s statement both as to the influence which
you had over him and as to the innocence of your
relations with him. But why was the whole situa-
tion not brought out in court ? "

THOR BRIDGE

193

“ It seemed to me incredible that such a charge
could be sustained. I thought that if we waited the
whole thing must dear itself up without our being
compelled to enter into painful details of the inner
life of the family. But I understand that far from
dearing it has become even more serious."

My dear young lady,” cried Holmes earnestly,
“ I beg you to have no illusions upon the point, lib:.
Cummings here would assure you that all the cards
are at present against us, and that we must do every-
thing that is possible if we are to win dear. It
would be a cruel deception to pretend that you are
not in very great danger. Give me all the hdp you
can, then, to get at the truth.”

“ I will conceal nothing.”

" Tell us, then, of your true relations with Mr.
Gibson’s wife.”

“ She hated me, Mr. Holmes. She hated me with
all the fervour of her tropical nature. She was a
woman who would do nothing by halves, and the
measure of her love for her husband was the measure
also of her hatred for me. It is probable that she
misunderstood our relations. I would not wish to
wrong her, but she loved so vividly in a physical
sense that she could hardly understand the mental,
and even spiritual, tie which held her husband to me,
or imagine that it was only my desire to influence
his power to good ends which kept me under his
roof. I can see now that I was wrong. Nothing
could justify me in remaining where I was a cause of
unhappiness, and yet it is certain that the unhappi-
ness would have remained even if I had left the
house.”

194 CASE-BOOK OF SHERLOCK HOLMES

“ Now, Miss Dunbar,” said Holmes, “ I beg you
to tell us exactly what occurred that evening.”

" I can tell you the truth so far as I know it, Mr.
Holmes, but I am in a position to prove nothing,
and there are points — the most vital points —
which I can neither explain nor can I imagine any
explanation.”

“ If you will find the facts, perhaps others may
find the explanation.”

“ With regard, then, to my presence at Thor
Bridge that night, I received a note from Mrs.
Gibson in the morning. It lay on the table of the
schoolroom, and it may have been left there by her
own hand. It implored me to see her there after
dinner, said she had something important to say to
me, and asked me to leave an answer on the sundial
in the garden, as she desired no one to be in our
confidence. I saw no reason for such secrecy, but
I did as she asked, accepting the appointrtient.
She asked me to destroy her note and I burned it
in the schoolroom grate. She was very much afraid
of her husband, who treated her with a harshness
for which I frequently reproached him, and I could
only imagine that she acted in this way because she
did not wish him to know of our interview.”

“ Yet she kept your reply very carefully ? "

" Yes. I was surprised to hear that she had it
in her hand when she died.”

“ Well, what happened then ? ”

“ I went down as I had promised. When I
reached the bridge she was waiting for me. Never
did I realize till that moment how this poor creature
hated me. She was like a mad woman — indeed, I

THOR BRIDGF 195

think she was a mad woman, subtly mad with the
deep power of deception which insane people may
haVe. How else could she have met me with uncon-
cern every day and yet had so raging a hatred of me
in her heart ? I will not say what she said. She
poured her whole wild fury out in burning and
horrible words. I did not even answer — I could not.
It was dreadful to see her. I put my hands to my
ears and rushed away. When I left her she was
standing still shrieking out her curses at me, in the
mouth of the bridge.”

" Where she was afterwards found ? "

" Within a few yards from the spot."

** And yet, presuming that die met her death
shortly after you left her, you heard no shot ? "
" No, I heard nothing. But, indeed, Mr. Holmes,
I was so agitated and horrified by this terrible out-
break that I rushed to get back to the peace of my
own room, and I was incapable of noticing anything
which happened.”

“ You say that you returned to your room. Did
you leave it again before next morning ? ”

” Yes ; when the alarm came that the poor
creature had met her death I ran out with the
others.”

" Did you see Mr. Gibson ? ”

" Yes ; he had just returned from the bridge when I
saw him. Hehad sent for the doctor and the police. "
“ Did he seem to you much perturbed ? "

“ Mr. Gibson is a very strong, self-contained man.
I do not think that he would ever show his emotions
on the surface. But I, who knew him so well, could
see that he was deeply concerned."

196 CASE-BOOK OF SHERLOCK HOLMES

" Then we come to the all-important point. This
pistol that was found in your room. Had you ever
seen it before ? "

*' Never, I swear it.”

*' When was it found ? ”

" Next morning, when the police made their
search.”

“ Among your clothes ? ”

" Yes ; on the floor of my wardrobe under my
dresses.”

" You could not guess how long it had been
there ? "

** It had not been there the morning before.”

“ How do you know ? ”

'* Because I tidied out the wardrobe.”

** That is final. Then someone came into your
room and placed the pistol there in order to inculpate
you.”

“ It must have been so.”

" And when ? ”

" It could only have been at meal-time, or else at
the hours when I would be in the schoolroom with
the children.”

" As you were when you got the note ? ”

“ Yes ; from that time onwards for the whole
morning.”

” Thank you, Miss Dunbar. Is there any other
point which could help me in the investigation ? ”

“ I can think of none.”

*' There was some sign of violence on the stone-
work of the bridge — a perfectly fresh chip just
opposite the body. Could you suggest any possible
explanation of that ? ”

197

THOR BRIDGE

“ Surely it must be a mere coincidence/’

“ Curious, Miss Dunbar, very curious. Why
should it appear at the very time of the tragedy and
why at the very place ? ”

" But what could have caused it ? Only great
violence could have such an effect."

Holmes did not answer. His pale, eager face had
suddenly assumed that tense, far-away expression
which I had learned to associate with the supreme
manifestations of his genius. So evident was the
crisis in his mind that none of us dared to speak, and
we sat, barrister, prisoner, and myself, watching
him in a concentrated and absorbed silence. Sud-
denly he sprang from his chair, vibrating with
nervous energy and the pressing need for action.
" Come, Watson, come I " he cried.

*' What is it, Mr. Holmes ? ”

“ Never mind, my dear lady. You will hear from
me, Mr. Cummings. With the help of the God of
justice I will give you a case which will make Eng-
land ring. You will get news by to-morrow, Miss
Dunbar, and meanwhile take my assurance that the
clouds are lifting and that I have every hope that
the light of truth is breaking through."

It was not a long journey from Winchester to
Thor Place, but it was long to me in my impatience,
while for Holmes it was evident that it seemed end-
less ; for, in his nervous restlessness, he could not sit
still, but paced the carriage or drummed with his
long, sensitive fingers upon the cushions beside him.
Suddenly, however, as we neared our destination he
seated him self opposite to me — we had a first-class

1^8 CASE-BOOK OF SHERLOCK HOLMES

carriage to ourselves — and laying a hand upon each
of my knees he looked into my eyes with the pecu-
liarly mischievous gaze which was characteristic of
his more imp-like moods.

44 Watson,” saidhe, 41 1 have some recollection that
you go armed upon these excursions of ours.”

It was as well for him that I did so, for he took
little care for his own safety when his mind was once
absorbed by a problem, so that more than once my
revolver had been a good friend in need. I re-
minded him of the fact.

44 Yes, yes, I am a little absent-minded in such
matters. But have you your revolver on you ? ”

I produced it from my hip-pocket, a short, handy,
but very serviceable little weapon. He undid the
catch, shook out the cartridges, and examined it
with care.

44 It's heavy — remarkably heavy,” said he.

44 Yes, it is a solid bit of work.”

He mused over it for a minute.

44 Do you know, Watson,” said he, " I believe your
revolver is going to have a very intimate connection
with the mystery which we are investigating.”

44 My dear Holmes, you are joking.”

44 No, Watson, I am very serious. There is a test
before us. If the test comes off, all will be clear.
And the test will depend upon the conduct of this
little weapon. Ope cartridge out. Now we will
replace the other five and put on the safety-catch.
So ! That increases the weight and makes it a better
reproduction.”

I had no glimmer of what was in his mind nor did
he enlighten me, but sat lost in thought until we

THOR BRIDGE

199

pulled up in the little Hampshire station. We
secured a. ramshackle trap, and in a quarter of an
hour were' at the house of our confidential friend,
the sergeant.

" A clue, Mr. Holmes ? What is it ? ”

" It all depends upon the behaviour of Dr.
Watson’s revolver,” said my friend. “ Here it is.
Now, officer, can you give me ten yards of string ? "

The village shop provided a ball of stout twine.

“ I think that this is all we will need,” said Holmes.
“ Now, if you please, we will get off on what I hope
is the last stage of our journey.”

The sun was setting and turning the rolling Hamp-
shire moor into a wonderful autumnal panorama.
The sergeant, with many cfftacal and incredulous
glances, which showed his deep doubts of the sanity
of my companion, lurched along beside us. As we
approached the scene of the crime I could see that
my friend under all his habitual coolness was in truth
deeply agitated.

" Yes,” he said, in answer to my remark, " you
have seen me miss my mark before, Watson. I have
an instinct for such things, and yet it has sometimes
played me false. It seemed a certainty when first it
flashed across my mind in the cell at Winchester, but
one drawback of an active mind is that one can
always conceive alternative explanations which
would make our scent a false one. And yet — and
yet Well, Watson, we can but try.”

As he walked he had firmly tied one end of the
string to the handle of the revolver. We had now
reached the scene of the tragedy. With great care
he marked out under the guidance of the policeman

200 CASE-BOOK OF SHERLOCK HOLMES

the exact spot where the body had been stretched.
He then hunted among the heather and the ferns
until he found a considerable stone. This he secured
to the other end of his line of string, and he hung it
over the parapet of the bridge so that it swung dear
above the water. He then stood on the fatal spot,
some distance from the edge of the bridge, with my
revolver in his hand, the string being taut between
the weapon and the heavy stone on the farther
side.

“ Now for it ! ” he cried.

At the words he raised the pistol to his head, and
then let go his grip. In an instant it had been
whisked away by the weight of the stone, had struck
with a sharp crack against the parapet, and had
vanished over the side into the water. It had hardly
gone before Holmes was kneeling beside the stone-
work, and a joyous cry showed that he had found
what he expected.

*' Was there ever a more exact demonstration ? "
he cried. “ See, Watson, your revolver has solved
the problem 1 " As he spoke he pointed to a second
chip of the exact size and shape of the first which
had appeared on the under edge of the stone balus-
trade.

We’ll stay at the inn to-night,” he continued, as
he rose and faced the astonished sergeant. " You
will, of course, get a grappling-hook and you will
easily restore my friend’s revolver. You will also
find beside it the revolver, string and weight with
which this vindictive woman attempted to disguise
her own crime and to fasten a charge of murder upon
an innocent victim. You can let Mr. Gibson know

201

THOR BRIDGE

that I will see him in the morning, when steps can
be taken for Miss Dunbar’s vindication."

Late that evening, as we sat together smoking our
pipes in the village inn. Holmes gave me a brief
review of what had passed.

*' I fear, Watson,” said he, “ that you will not
improve any reputation which I may have acquired
by adding the Case of the Thor Bridge Mystery to
your annals. I have been sluggish in mind and
wanting in that mixture of imagination and reality
which is the basis of my art. I confess that the chip
in the stonework was a sufficient clue to suggest the
true solution, and that I blame myself for not having
attained it sooner.

“ It must be admitted that the workings of this
unhappy woman’s mind were deep and subtle, so
that it was no very simple matter to unravel her
plot. I do not think that in our adventures we have
ever come across a stranger example of what per-
verted love can bring about. Whether Miss Dunbar
was her rival in a physical or in a merely mental
sense seems to have been equally unforgivable in her
eyes. No doubt she blamed this innocent lady for
all those harsh dealings and unkind words with which
her husband tried to repel her too demonstrative
affection. Her first resolution was to end her own
life. Her second was to do it in such a way as to
involve her victim in a fate which was worse far
than any sudden death could be.

" We can follow the various steps quite clearly,
and they show a remarkable subtlety of mind. A
note was extracted very cleverly from Miss Dunbar

202 CASE-BOOK OF SHERLOCK HOLMES

which would make it appear that she had chosen
the scene of the crime. In her anxiety that it
should be discovered she somewhat overdid it, by
holding it in her hand to the last. This alone should
have excited my suspicions earlier than it did.

“ Then she took one of her husband’s revolvers —
there was, as you saw, an arsenal in the house — and
kept it for her own use. A similar one she concealed
that morning in Miss Dunbar’s wardrobe after dis-
charging one barrel, which she could easily do in the
woods without attracting attention. She then went
down to the bridge where she had contrived this
exceedingly ingenious method for getting rid of her
weapon. When Miss Dunbar appeared she used her
last breath in pouring out her hatred, and then,
when she was out of hearing, carried out her terrible
purpose. Every link is now in its place and the
chain is complete. The papers may ask why the
mere was not dragged in the first instance, but it is
easy to be wise after the event, and in any case the
expanse of a reed-filled lake is no easy matter to
drag unless you have a clear perception of what you
are looking for and where. Well, Watson, we have
helped a remarkable woman, and also a formidable
man. Should they in the future join their forces,
as seems not unlikely, the financial world may find
that Mr. Neil Gibson has learned something in that
schoolroom of Sorrow where our earthly lessons are
taught."

VIII

THE ADVENTURE OF THE CREEPING
MAN

M R. SHERLOCK HOLMES was always of
opinion that I should publish the singular
facts connected with Professor Presbury, if only to
dispel once for all the ugly rumours which some
twenty years ago agitated the University and were
echoed in the learned societies of London. There
were, however, certain obstacles in the way, and the
true history of this curious case remained entombed
in the tin box which contains so many records of my
friend’s adventures. Now we have at last obtained
permission to ventilate the facts which formed one
of the very last cases handled by Holmes before his
retirement from practice. Even now a certain reti-
cence and discretion have to be observed in laying
the matter before the public.

It was one Sunday evening early in September of
the year 1903 that I received one of Holmes’s laconic
messages : “ Come at once if convenient— if incon-
venient come all the same. — S. H.” The relations
between us in those latter days were peculiar. He
was a man of habits, narrow and concentrated habits,
and I had become one of them. As an institution I
was like the violin, the shag tobacco, the old black

203

204 CASE-BOOK OF SHERLOCK HOLMES

pipe, the index books, and others perhaps less
excusable. When it was a case of active work and
a comrade was needed upon whose nerve he could
place some reliance, my rdle was obvious. But apart
from this I had uses. I was a whetstone for his
mind. I stimulated him. He liked to think aloud
in my presence. His remarks could hardly be said
to be made to me — many of them would have been
as appropriately addressed to his bedstead — but
none the less, having formed the habit, it had become
in some way helpful that I should register and inter-
ject. If I irritated him by a certain methodical
slowness in my mentality, that irritation served only
to make his own flame-like intuitions and impressions
flash up the more vividly and swiftly. Such was my
humble rdle in our alliance.

When I arrived at Baker Street I found him
huddled up in his arm-chair with updrawn knees,
his pipe in his mouth and his brow furrowed with
thought. It was clear that he was in the throes of
some vexatious problem. With a wave of his hand
he indicated my old arm-chair, but otherwise for
half an horn: he gave no sign that he was aware of
my presence. Then with a start he seemed to come
from his reverie, and, with his usual whimsical smile,
he greeted me back to what had once been my home.

" You will excuse a certain abstraction of mind,
my dear Watson,” said he. " Some curious facts
have been submitted to me within the last twenty-
four hours, and they in turn have given rise to some
speculations of a more general character. I have
serious thoughts of writing a small monograph upon
the uses of dogs in the work of the detective.”

THE CREEPING HAN 265

“But surely, Holmes, this has been explored,"
said I. “ Bloodhounds — sleuth-hounds ”

“ No, no, Watson ; that side of the matter is, of
course, obvious. But there is another which is far
more subtle. You may recollect that in the case
which you, in your sensational way, coupled with
the Copper Beeches, I was able, by watching the
mind of the child, to form a deduction as to the
criminal habits of the very smug and respectable
father."

“ Yes, I remember it well."

“ My line of thoughts about dogs is analogous. A
dog reflects the family life. Whoever saw a frisky
dog in a gloomy family, or a sad dog 4 n a happy one ?
Snarling people have snarling dogs, dangerous people
have dangerous ones. And their passing moods may
reflect the passing moods of others."

I shook my head. " Surely, Holmes, this is a
little far-fetched,” said I.

He had refilled his pipe and resumed his seat,
taking no notice of my comment.

“ The practical application of what I have said is
very close to the problem which I am investigating.
It is a tangled skein, you understand, and I am look-
ing for a loose end. One possible loose end lies in the
question : Why does Professor Presbury's faithful
wolf-hound, Roy, endeavour to bite him ? "

I sank back in my chair in some disappointment.
Was it for so trivial a question as this that I had
been summoned from my work ? Holmes glanced
across at me.

“ The same old Watson ! ” said he. “ You never
learn that the gravest issues may depend upon the

206 CASE-BOOK OF SHERLOCK HOLMES

smallest things. But is it not on the face of it
strange that a staid, elderly philosopher— you’ve
heard of Presbury, of course, the famous Camford
physiologist ? — that such a man, whose friend has
been his devoted wolf-hound, should now have been
twice attacked by his own dog ? What do you make
of it ? ”

“ The dog is ill.”

" Well, that has to be considered. But he attacks
no one else, nor does he apparently molest his master,
save on very special occasions. Curious, Watson —
very curious. But young Mr. Bennett is before his
time, if that is his ring. I had hoped to have a
longer chat with you before he came.”

There was a quick step on the stairs, a sharp tap
at the door, and a moment later the new client pre-
sented himself. He was a tall, handsome youth
about thirty, well dressed and elegant, but with
something in his bearing which suggested the shy-
ness of the student rather than the self-possession
of the man of the world. He shook hands with
Holmes, and then looked with some surprise at me.

“ This matter is very delicate, Mr. Holmes.” he
said. “ Consider the relation in which I stand to
Professor Presbury, both privately and publicly.
I really can hardly justify myself if I speak before
any third person.”

“ Have no fear, Mr. Bennett. Dr. Watson is the
very soul of discretion, and I can assure you that
this is a matter in which I am very likely to need an
assistant.”

“ As you like, Mr. Holmes. You will, I am sure,
understand my having some reserves in the .matter.”

THE CREEPING MAN 307

" You will appreciate it, Watson, when I tell you
that this gentleman, Mr. Trevor Bennett, is pro-
fessional assistant to the great scientist, lives under
his roof, and is engaged to his only daughter. Cer-
tainly we must agree that the Professor has every
claim upon his loyalty and devotion. But it may
best be shown by taking the necessary steps to clear
up this strange mystery.”

'* I hope so, Mr. Holmes. That is my one object.
Does Dr. Watson know the situation ? ”

" I have not had time to explain it.”

“ Then perhaps I had better go over the ground
again before explaining some fresh developments.”

" I will do so myself,” said Holmes, " in ordef to
show that I have the events in their due order. The
Professor, Watson, is a man of European reputation.
His life has been academic. There has never been
a breath of scandal. He is a widower with one
daughter, Edith. He is, I gather, a man of very
virile and positive, one might almost say combative,
character. So the matter stood until a very few
months ago.

" Then the current of his life was broken. He is
sixty-one years of age, but he became engaged to
the daughter of Professor Morphy, his colleague in
the chair of. Comparative Anatomy. It was not, as
I understand, the reasoned courting of an elderly
man, but rather the passionate frenzy of youth, for
no one could have shown himself a more devoted
lover. The lady, Alice Morphy, was a very perfect
girl both in mind and body, so that there was every
excuse for the Professor’sinfatuation. None the less,
it did not meet with full approval in his own family.”

208 CASE-BOOK OF SHERLOCK HOLMES

** We thought it rather excessive,” said our
visitor.

** Exactly. . Excessive and a little violent and
unnatural. Professor Presbury was rich, however,
and there was no objection upon the part of the
father. The daughter, however, had other views,
and there were already several candidates for her
hand, who, if they were less eligible from a worldly
point of view, were at least more of an age. The
girl seemed to like the Professor in spite of his
. eccentricities. It was only age which stood, in the
way.

” About this time a little mystery suddenly
clouded the normal routine of the Professor's life.
He did what he had never done before. He left
home and gave no indication where he was going.
He was away a fortnight, and returned looking rather
travel- worn. He made no allusion to where he had
been, although he was usually the frankest of men.
It chanced, however, that our client here, Mr.
Bennett, received a letter from a fellow-student in
Prague, who said that he was glad to have seen Pro-
fessor Presbury there, although he had not been able
to talk to him. Only in this way did his own house-
hold learn where he had been.

“ Now comes the point. From that time onwards
a curious change came over the Professor. He
became furtive and sly. Those around him had
always the feeling that he was not the man that
they had known, but that he was under some shadow
which had darkened his higher qualities. His
intellect was not affected. His lectures were as
brilliant as ever. But always there was something

THE CREEPING MAN 209

new, something sinister and unexpected. His
daughter, who was devoted to him, tried again and
again to resume the old relations and to penetrate
this mask which her father seemed to have put on.
You, sir,' as I understand, did the same — but all
was in vain. And now, Mr. Bennett, tell in your
own words the incident of the letters."

“ You must understand, Dr. Watson, that the
Professor had no secrets from me. If I were his
son or his younger brother, I could not have more
completely enjoyed his confidence. As his secretary
I handled every paper which came to him, and I
opened and subdivided his letters. Shortly after
his return all this was changed. He told me that
certain letters might come to him from London which
would be marked by a cross under the stamp.
These were to be set aside for his own eyes only.
I may say that several of these did pass through my
hands, that they had the E.C. mark, and were in an
illiterate handwriting. If he answered them at all
the answers did not pass through my hands nor
into the letter-basket in which our correspondence
was collected."

" And the box," said Holmes.

“ Ah, yes, ^ the box. The Professor brought back
a little wooden box from his travels. It was the
one thing which suggested a Continental tour, for
it was one of those quaint carved things which one
associates with Germany. This he placed in his
instrument cupboard. One day, in looking for a
c annula , I took up the box. To my surprise he was
very angry, and reproved me in words which were
quite savage for my curiosity. It was the first time

2io CASE-BOOK OF SHERLOCK HOLMES

such a thing had happened and I was deeply hurt.
I endeavoured to explain that it was a mere accident
that I had touched the box, but all the evening I
was conscious that he looked at me harshly and that
the incident was rankling in his mind. ' ’ Mr. Bennett
drew a little diary book from his pocket. “ That
was on July 2,” said he.

" You are certainly an admirable witness/’ said
Holmes. “ I may need some of these dates which
you have noted.”

" I learned method among other things from my
great teacher. From the time that I observed
abnormality in his behaviour I felt that it was my
duty to study his case. Thus I have it here th'at it
was on that very day, July 2, that Roy attacked the
Professor, as he came from his study into the hall.
Again on July n, there was a scene of the same sort
and then I have a note of yet another upon July 20.
After that we had to banish Roy to the stables. He
was a dear, affectionate animal— but I fear I weary
you.”

Mr. Bennett spoke in a tone of reproach, for it
was very clear that Holmes was not listening. His
face was rigid and his eyes gazed abstractedly at
the ceiling. With an effort he recovered himself.

” Singular ! Most singular 1 ” he murmured.
" These details were new to me, Mr. Bennett. I
think we have now fairly gone over the old ground,
have we not ? But you spoke of some fresh develop-
ments.”

The pleasant, open face of our visitor clouded over,
shadowed by some grim remembrance. “ What I
speak of occurred the night before last,” said he. "I

2ZZ

THE CREEPING MAN

was lying awake about two in the morning, when I
was aware of a dull muffled sound coming from the
passage. I opened my door and peeped out. I
should explain that the Professor sleeps at the end
of the passage ”

“ The date being ? ” asked Holmes.

Our visitor was clearly annoyed at so irrelevant
an interruption.

" I have said, sir, that it was the night before last
— that is, September 4.”

Holmes nodded and smiled.

“ Pray continue,” said he.

" He sleeps at the end of the passage, and would
have to pass my door in order to reach the staircase.
It was a really terrifying experience, Mr. Holmes.
I think that I am as strong-nerved as my neighbours,
but I was shaken by what I saw. The passage was
dark save that one window half-way along it threw
a patch of light. I could see that something was
coming along the passage, something dark and
crouching. Then suddenly it emerged into the light,
and I saw that it was he. He was crawling, Mr.
Holmes — crawling ! He was not quite on his hands
and knees. I should rather say on his hands and
feet, with his face sunk between his hands. Yet
he seemed to move with ease. I was so paralysed
by the sight that it was not until he had reached my
door that I was able to step forward and ask if I
could assist him. His answer was extraordinary.
He sprang up, spat out some atrocious word at me,
and hurried on past me, and down the staircase. I
waited about for an hour, but he did not come back. It
must have been daylight before he regained his room.”

212 CASE-BOOK OF SHERLOCK HOLMES

" Well, Watson, what make you of that ? ” asked
Holmes, with the air of the pathologist who presents
a rare specimen.

“ Lumbago, possibly. I have known a severe
attack make a man walk in just such a way, and
nothing would be more trying to the temper.”

" Good, Watson ! You always keep us flat-
footed on the ground. But we can hardly accept
lumbago, since he was able to stand erect in a
moment.”

“ He was never better in health,” said Bennett.
“ In fact, he is stronger than I have known him for
years. But there are the facts, Mr. Holmes. It is
not a case in which we can consult the police, and
yet we are utterly at our wits’ end as to what to
do, and we feel in some strange way that we are
drifting towards disaster. Edith — Miss Presbury —
feels as I do, that we cannot wait passively any
longer.”

“It is certainly a very curious and suggestive
case. What do you think, Watson ? ”

“ Speaking as a medical man,” said I, “ it appears
to be a case for an alienist. The old gentleman’s
cerebral processes were disturbed by the love affair.
He made a journey abroad in the hope of breaking
himself of the passion. His letters and the box may
be connected with some other private transaction
— a loan, perhaps, or share certificates, which are in
the box.”

" And the wolf-hound no doubt disapproved
of the financial bargain. No, no, Watson,
there is more in it than this. Now, I can only
suggest ”

THE CREEPING MAN 213

What Sherlock Holmes was about to suggest will
never be known, for at this moment the door opened
and a young lady was shown into the room. As
she appeared Mr. Bennett sprang up with a cry and
ran forward with his hands out to meet those which
she had herself outstretched.

" Edith, dear I Nothing the matter, I hope ? ”

" I felt I must follow you. Oh, Jack, I have
been so dreadfully frightened ! It is awful to be
there alone."

“ Mr. Holmes, this is the young lady I spoke of.
This is my fiancee."

" We were gradually coming to that conclusion,
were we not, Watson ? " Holmes answered, with a
smile. " I take it, Miss Presbury, that there is
some fresh development in the case, and that you
thought we should know ? "

Our new visitor, a bright, handsome girl of a con-
ventional English type, smiled back at Holmes as
she seated herself beside Mr. Bennett.

" When I found Mr. Bennett had left his hotel
I thought I should probably find him here. Of
course, he had told me that he would consult you.
But, oh, Mr. Holmes, can you do nothing for my
poor father ? ”

" I have hopes, Miss Presbury, but the case is still
obscure. Perhaps what you have to say may throw
some fresh light upon it."

" It was last night, Mr. Holmes. He had been
very strange all day. I am sure that there are
times when he has no recollection of what he does.
He lives as in a strange dream. Yesterday was such
a day. It was not my father with whom I lived.

214 CASE-BOOK OF SHERLOCK HOLMES

His outward shell was there, but it was not really
he."

" Tell me what happened."

“ I was awakened in the night by the dog barking
most furiously. Poor Roy, he is chained now near
the stable. I may say that 1 always sleep with my
door locked; for, as Jack — as Mr. Bennett — will
tell you, we all have a feeling of impending danger.
My room is on the second floor. It happened that
the blind was up in my window, and there was
bright moonlight outside. As I lay with my eyes
fixed upon the square of light, listening to the
frenzied barkings of the dog, I was amazed to see
my father’s face looking in at me. Mr. Holmes, I
nearly died of surprise and horror. There it was
pressed against the window-pane, and one hand
seemed to be raised as if to push up the window. If
that window had opened, I think I should have gone
mad. It was no delusion, Mr. Holmes. Don’t
deceive yourself by thinking so. I dare say it was
twenty seconds or so that I lay paralysed and
watched the face. Then it vanished, but I could
not — I could not spring out of bed and look out
after it. I lay cold and shivering till morning. At
breakfast he was sharp and fierce in manner, and
made no allusion to the adventure of the night.
Neither did I, but I gave an excuse for coming to
town — and here I am.”

Holmes looked thoroughly surprised at Miss Pres-
bury’s narrative.

” My dear young lady, you say that your room
is on the second floor. Is there a long ladder in
the garden ? "

THE CREEPING MAN 215

“ No, Mr. Holmes ; that is the amazing part of
it. There is no possible way of reaching the window
— and yet he was there."

“The elate being September 5," said Holmes.
“ That certainly complicates matters."

It was the young lady’s turn to look surprised.
“ This is the second time that you have alluded
to the date, Mr. Holmes," said Bennett. “ Is it
possible that it has any bearing upon the case ? "

“ It is possible^— very possible — and yet I have not
my full material at present."

" Possibly you are thinking of the connection
between insanity and phases of the moon ? "

“ No, I assure you. It was quite a different line
of thought. Possibly you can leave your notebook
with me and I will check the dates. Now I think,
Watson, that our line of action is perfectly clear.
This young lady has informed us — and I have the
greatest confidence in her intuition — that her father
remembers little or nothing which occurs upon
certain dates. We will therefore call upon him as if
he had given us an appointment upon such a date.
He will put it down to his own lack of memory.
Thus we will open our campaign by having a good
close view of him."

“ That is excellent," said Mr. Bennett. “ I warn
you, however, that the Professor is irascible and
violent at times."

Holmes smiled. “ There are reasons why we
should come at once — very cogent reasons if my
theories hold good. To-morrow, Mr. Bennett, will
certainly see us in Camford. There is, if I remem-
ber right, an inn called the ' Chequers ' where the

216 CASE-BOOK OF SHERLOCK HOLMES

port used to be above mediocrity, and the linen was
above reproach. I think, Watson, that our lot for
the next few days might lie in less pleasant places.”

Monday morning found us on our way to the
famous University town — an easy effort on the part
of Holmes, who had no roots to pull up, , but one
which involved frantic planning and hurrying on my
part, as my practice was by this time not incon-
siderable. Holmes made no allusion to the case
until after we had deposited our suit-cases at the
ancient hostel of which he had spoken.

“ I think, Watson, that we can catch the Professor
just before lunch. He lectures at eleven, and
should have an interval at home.”

" What possible excuse have we for calling ? "

Holmes glanced at his notebook.

“ There was a period of excitement upon August
26. We will assume that he is a little hazy as to
what he does at such times. If we insist that we
are there by appointment I think he will hardly
venture to contradict us. Have you the effrontery
necessary to put it through ? ”

“ We can but try.”

” Excellent, Watson ! Compound of the Busy
Bee and Excelsior. We can but try — the motto of
the firm. A friendly native will surely guide us.”

Such a one on the back of a smart hansom swept
us past a row of ancient colleges, and finally turning
into a tree-lined drive pulled up at the door of a
charming house, girt round with lawns and covered
with purple wistaria. Professor Presbuiy was
certainly surrounded with every sign not only of
comfort but of luxury. Even as we pulled up a

THE CREEPING MAN *17

grizzled head appeared at the front window, and we
were aware of a pair of keen eyes from under shaggy
brows which surveyed us through large horn glasses.
A moment later we were actually in his sanctum,
and the mysterious scientist, whose vagaries had
brought us from London, was standing before us.
There was certainly no sign of eccentricity either in
his manner or appearance, for he was a portly, large-
featured man, grave, tall, and frock-coated, with the
dignity of bearing which a lecturer needs. His eyes
were his most remarkable feature, keen, observant,
and clever to the verge of cunning.

He looked at our cards. " Pray sit down, gentle-
men. What can I do for you ? "

Mr. Holmes smiled amiably.

“ It was the question which I was about to put
to you, Professor."

" To me, sir ! "

“ Possibly there is some mistake. I heard
through a second person that Professor Presbury of
Camford had need of my services.”

“ Oh, indeed ! ” It seemed to me that there was
a malicious sparkle in the intense grey eyes. " You
heard that, did you ? May I ask the name of your
informant ? "

“ I am sorry, Professor, but the matter was rather
confidential. If I have made a mistake there is no
harm done. I can only express my regret."

" Not at all. I should wish to go further into
this matter. It interests me. Have you any scrap
of writing, any letter or telegram, to bear out your
assertion ? "

“ No, I have not.”

218 CASE-BOOK OF SHERLOCK HOLMES

" I presume that you do not go so far as to assert
that I summoned you ? ”

" I would rather answer no questions,” said
Holmes.

" No, I dare say not,” said the Professor, with
asperity. “ However, that particular one can be
answered very easily without your aid.”

He . walked across the room to the bell. Our
London friend, Mr. Bennett, answered the call.

" Come in, Mr. Bennett. These two gentlemen
have come from London under the impression that
they have been summoned. You handle all my
correspondence. Have you a note of anything
going to a person named Holmes ? ”

" No, sir,” Bennett answered, with a flush.

'* That is conclusive,” said the Professor, glaring
angrily at my companion. “ Now, sir ” — he leaned
forward with his two hands upon the table — “it
seems to me that your position is a very question-
able one.”

Holmes shrugged his shoulders.

" I can only repeat that I am sorry that we have
made a needless intrusion.”

“ Hardly enough, Mr. Holmes I ” the old man
cried, in a high screaming voice, with extraordinary
malignancy upon his face. He got between us and
the door as he spoke, and he shook his two hands at
us with furious passion. “ You can hardly get out
of it so easily as that.” His face was convulsed and
he grinned and gibbered at us in his senseless rage.
I am convinced that we should have had to fight
our way out of the room if Mr. Bennett had not
intervened.

THE CREEPING MAN

2X9

“ My dear Professor,” he cried, " consider your
position I Consider the scandal at the University !
Mr. Holmes is a well-known man. You cannot
possibly treat him with such discourtesy.”

Sulkily our host — if I may call him so— cleared
the path to the door. We were glad to find our-
selves outside the house, and in the quiet of the tree-
lined drive. Holmes seemed greatly amused by the
episode.

“ Our learned friend's nerves are somewhat out
of order,” said he. ” Perhaps our intrusion was a
little crude, and yet we have gained that personal
contact which I desired. But, dear me, Watson, he
is surely at our heels. The villain still pursues us.”

There were the sounds of running feet behind, but
it was, to my relief, not the formidable Professor but
his assistant who appeared round the curve of the
drive. He came panting up to us.

” I am so sorry, Mr. Holmes. I wished to
apologize.”

“ My dear sir, there is no need. It is all in the
way of professional experience.”

" I have never seen him in a more dangerous
mood. But he grows more sinister. You can
understand now why his daughter and I are alarmed.
And yet his mind is perfectly clear.”

” Too clear 1 ” said Holmes. “ That was my mis-
calculation. It is evident that his memory is much
more reliable than I had thought. By the way,
can we, before we go, see the window of Miss Pres-
bury’s room ? ”

Mr. Bennett pushed his way through some shrubs
and we had a view of the side of the house.

220 CASE-BOOK OF SHERLOCK HOLMES

" It is there. The second on the left."

" Dear me, it seems hardly accessible. And yet
you will observe that there is a creeper below and a
water-pipe above which give some foothold."

" I could not climb it myself," said Mr. Bennett.

" Very likely. It would certainly be a dangerous
exploit for any normal man."

" There was one other thing 1 wished to tell you,
Mr. Holmes. I have the address of the man
London to whom the Professor writes. He seems
to have written this morning and I got it from his
blotting-paper. It is an ignoble position for a
trusted secretary, but what else can I do ? "

Holmes glanced at the paper and put it into his
pocket.

“ Dorak — a curious name. Slavonic, I imagine.
Well, it is an important link in the chain. We
return to London this afternoon, Mr. Bennett. I
see no good purpose to be served by our remaining.
We cannot arrest the Professor, because he has done
no crime, nor can we place him under constraint,
for he cannot be proved to be mad. No action is as
yet possible.”

" Then what on earth are we to do ? ”

" A little patience, Mr. Bennett. Things will soon
develop. Unless I am mistaken next Tuesday
may mark a crisis. Certainly we shall be in Cam-
ford on that day. Meanwhile, the general position
is undeniably unpleasant, and if Miss Presbury can
prolong her visit "

" That is easy."

“ Then let her stay till we can assure her that all
danger is past. Meanwhile, let him have his way

THE CREEPING MAN z ai

and do not cross him. So long as he is in a good
humour all is well.”

” There he is I ” said Bennett, in a startled
whisper. Looking between the branches we saw
the tall, erect figure emerge from the hall door and
look around him. He stood leaning forward, his
hands swinging straight before him, his head turn-
ing from side to side. The secretary with a last
wave slipped off among the trees, and we saw him
presently rejoin his employer, the two entering the
house together in what seemed to be animated and
even excited conversation.

" I expect the old gentleman has been putting
two and two together,” said Holmes, as we walked
hotelwards. “ He struck me as having a particu-
larly clear and logical brain, from the little I saw
of him. Explosive, no doubt, but then from bis
point of view he has something to explode about if
detectives are put on his track and he suspects his
own household of doing it. I rather fancy that
friend Bennett is in for an uncomfortable time.”

Holmes stopped at a post office and sent off a
telegram on our way. The answer reached us in
the evening, and he tossed it across to me. “ Have
visited the Commercial Road and seen Dorak.
Suave person, Bohemian, elderly. Keeps large
general store. — Mercer.”

" Mercer is since your time,” said Holmes. " He
is my general utility man who looks up routine
business. It was important to know something of
the man with whom our Professor was so secretly
corresponding. His nationality connects up with
the Prague visit.”

232 CASE-BOOK OF SHERLOCK HOLMES

"Thank goodness that something connects with
something/' said I. "At present we seem to be
faced by a long series of inexplicable incidents with
no bearing upon each other. Fbr example, what
possible connection can there be between an angry
wolf-hound and a visit to Bohemia, or either of them
with a man crawling down a passage at night ? As
to your dates, that is the biggest mystification of all.”

Holmes smiled and rubbed his hands. We were,

■ I may say, seated in the old sitting-room of the
ancient hotel, with a bottle of the famous vintage of
which Holmes had spoken on the table between us.

" Well, now, let us take the dates first,” said he,
his finger-tips together and his manner as if he were
addressing a class. “ This excellent young man's
diary shows that there was trouble upon July 2,
and from then onwards it seems to have been at
nine-day intervals, with, so far as I remember, only
one exception. Thus the last outbreak upon Friday
was on September 3, which also falls into the series,
as did August 26, which preceded it. The thing
is beyond coincidence.”

I was forced to agree.

" Let us, then, form the provisional theory that
every nine days the Professor takes some strong drug
which has a passing but highly poisonous effect.
His naturally violent nature is intensified by it. He
learned to take this drug while he was in Prague,
and is now supplied with it by a Bohemian inter-
mediary in London. This all hangs together,
Watson 1 ”

" But the dog, the face at the window, the creeping
man in the passage ? ”

THE CREEPING MAN

223

"Well, well, we have made a beginning. I
should not expect any fresh developments until next
Tuesday. In the meantime we can only keep in
touch with ''friend Bennett and enjoy the amenities
of this charming town."

In the morning Mr. Bennett slipped round to
bring us the latest report. As Holmes had imagined,
times had not been easy with him. Without exactly
accusing him of being responsible for our presence,
the Professor had been very rough and rude in his
speech, and evidently felt some strong grievance.
This morning he was quite himself again, however,
and had delivered his usual brilliant lecture to a
crowded class. " Apart from his queer fits," said
Bennett, “ he has actually more energy and vitality
than I can ever remember, nor was his brain ever
clearer. But it’s not he — it’s never the man whom
we have known.”

" I don’t think you have anything to fear now
for a week at least," Holmes answered. " I am a
busy man, and Dr. Watson has his patients to attend
to. Let us agree that we meet here at this hour
next Tuesday, and I shall be surprised if before we
leave you again we are not able to explain, even if
we cannot perhaps put an end to, your troubles.
Meanwhile, keep us posted in what occurs."

I saw nothing of my friend for the next few days,
but on the following Monday evening I had a short
note asking me to meet him next day at the train.
From what he told me as we travelled up to Cam-ford
all was well, the peace of the Professor’s house had

224 CASE-BOOK OF SHERLOCK HOLMES

been unruffled, and his own conduct perfectly normal
This also was the report which was given us b;
Mr. Bennett himself when he called upon us tha
evening at our old quarters in the “ Chequers.'
" He heard from his London correspondent to-day
There was a letter and there was a small packet
each with the cross under the stamp which wame<
me not to touch them. There has been nothin]
else.”

” That may prove quite enough,” said Holme
grimly. “ Now, Mr. Bennett, we shall, I think, com'
to some conclusion to-night. If my deductions ar<
correct we should have an opportunity of bringin]
matters to a head. In order to do so it is necessar
to hold the Professor under observation. I woul<
suggest, therefore, that you remain awake and 01
the look out. Should you hear him pass your doo
do not interrupt him, but follow him as discreetb
as you can. Dr. Watson and I will not be far off
By the way, where is the key of that little box o
which you spoke ? ”

” Upon his watch-chain.”

” I fancy our researches must lie in that direction
At the worst the lock should not be very formid
able. Have you any other able-bodied man on th<
premises ? ”

" There is the coachman, Macphail.”

" Where does he sleep ? ”

“ Over the stables.”

” We might possibly want him. Well, we can dt
no more until we see how things develop. Good-
bye — but I expect that we shall see you before
morning.”

THE CREEPING MAN 225

It was nearly midnight before we took our station
among some bushes immediately opposite the hall
door of the Professor. It was a fine night, but chilly,
and we were glad of our warm overcoats. There was
a breeze, and clouds were scudding across the sky,
obscuring from time to time the half-moon. It
would have been a dismal vigil were it not for the
expectation and excitement which carried us along,
and the assurance of my comrade that we had prob-
ably reached the end of the strange sequence of
events which had engaged our attention.

** If the cycle of nine days holds good then we
shall have the Professor at his worst to-night,” said
Holmes. “ The fact that these strange symptoms
began after his visit to Prague, that he is in secret cor-
respondence with a Bohemian dealer in London, who
presumably represents someone in Prague, and that
he received a packet from him this very day, all
point in one direction. What he takes and why he
takes it are still beyond our ken, but that it emanates
in some way from Prague is clear enough. He takes
it under definite directions which regulate this ninth-
day system, which was the first point which attracted
my attention. But his symptoms are most remark-
able. Did you observe his knuckles ? ”

I had to confess that I did not.

** Thick and homy in a way which is quite new
in my experience. Always look at the hands first,
Watson. Then cuffs, trouser- knees, and boots. Very
curious knuckles which can only be explained by the

mode of progression observed by ” Holmes

paused, and suddenly clapped his hand to his fore-
head. “ Oh, Watson, Watson, what a fool I have

224 CASE-BOOK OF SHERLOCK HOLMES

been unruffled, and his own conduct perfectly normal.
This also was the report which was given us by
Mr. Bennett himself when he called upon us that
evening at our old quarters in the “ Chequers.”
" He heard from his London correspondent to-day.
There was a letter and there was a small packet,
each with the cross under the stamp which warned
me not to touch them. There has been nothing
else.”

" That may prove quite enough,” said Holmes
grimly. “ Now, Mr. Bennett, we shall, I think, come
to some conclusion to-night. If my deductions are
correct we should have an opportunity of bringing
matters to a head. In order to do so it is necessary
to hold the Professor under observation. I would
suggest, therefore, that you remain awake and on
the look out. Should you hear him pass your door
do not interrupt him, but follow him as discreetly
as you can. Dr. Watson and I will not be far off.
By the way, where is the key of that little box of
which you spoke ? ”

” Upon his watch-chain.”

” I fancy our researches must lie in that direction.
At the worst the lock should not be very formid-
able. Have you any other able-bodied man on the
premises ? ”

"There is the coachman, Macphail.”

" Where does he sleep ? ”

" Over the stables.”

" We might possibly want him. Well, we can do
no more until we see how things develop. Good-
bye — but I expect that we shall see you before
morning.”

THE CREEPING MAN 225

It was nearly midnight before we took our station
among some bushes immediately opposite the hall
door of the Professor. It was a fine night, but chilly,
and we were glad of our warm overcoats. There was
a breeze, and clouds were scudding across the sky,
obscuring from time to time the half-moon. It
would have been a dismal vigil were it not for the
expectation and excitement which carried us along,
and the assurance of my comrade that we had prob-
ably reached the end of the strange sequence of
events which had engaged our attention.

“ If the cycle of nine days holds good then we
shall have the Professor at his worst to-night,’* said
Holmes. " The fact that these strange symptoms
began after his visit to Prague, that he is in secret cor-
respondence with a Bohemian dealer in London, who
presumably represents someone in Prague, and that
he received a packet from him this very day, all
point in one direction. What he takes and why he
takes it are still beyond our ken, but that it emanates
in some way from Prague is clear enough. He takes
it under definite directions which regulate this ninth-
day system, which was the first point which attracted
my attention. But his symptoms are most remark-
able. Did you observe his knuckles ? "

I had to confess that I did not.

“ Thick and homy in a way which is quite new
in my experience. Always look at the hands first,
Watson. Then cuffs, trouser- knees, and boots. Very
curious knuckles which can only be explained by the

mode of progression observed by ” Holmes

paused, and suddenly clapped his hand to his fore-
head. “ Oh, Watson, Watson, what a fool I have

aa6 CASE-BOOK OF SHERLOCK HOLMES

been ! It seems incredible, and yet it must be true.
All points in one direction. How could I miss seeing
the connection of ideas ? Those knuckles — how
could I have passed those knuckles ? And the dog !
And the ivy ! It’s surely time that I disappeared
into that little farm of my dreams. Look out,
Watson ! Here he is ! We shall have the chance
of seeing for ourselves.”

The hall door had slowly opened, and against the
lamp-lit background we saw the tall figure of Pro-
fessor Presbury. He was clad in his dressing-gown.
As he stood outlined in the doorway he was erect
but leaning forward with dangling arms, as when we
saw him last.

Now he stepped forward into the drive, and an
extraordinary change came over him. He sank
down into a crouching position, and moved along
upon his hands and feet, skipping every now and
then as if he were overflowing with energy and
vitality. He moved along the face of the house and
then round the comer. As he disappeared Bennett
slipped through the hall door and softly followed
him.

“ Come, Watson, come ! ” cried Holmes, and we
stole as softly as we could through the bushes until
we had gained a spot whence we could see the other
side of the house, which was bathed in the light of
the half-moon. The Professor was clearly visible
crouching at the foot of the ivy-covered wall. As
we watched him he suddenly began with incredible
agility to ascend it. From branch to branch he
sprang, sure of foot and firm of grasp, climbing
apparently in mere joy at his own powers, with no

THE CREEPING MAN 227

definite object in view. With his dressing-gown
flapping on each side of him he looked like some huge
bat glued against the side of his own house, a great
square dark patch upon the moonlit wall. Presently
he tired of this amusement, and, dropping from
branch to branch, he squatted down into the old
attitude and moved towards the stables, creeping
along in the same strange way as before. The wolf-
hound was out now, barking furiously, and more
excited than ever when it actually caught sight
of its master. It was straining on its chain, and
quivering with eagerness and rage. The Professor
squatted down very deliberately just out of reach
of the hound, and began to provoke it in every
possible way. He took handfuls of pebbles from
the drive and threw them in the dog’s face, prodded
him with a stick which he had picked up, flicked his
hands about only a few inches from the gaping
mouth, and endeavoured in every way to increase
the animal's fury, which was already beyond all
control. In all our adventures I do not know that
I have ever seen a more strange sight than this
impassive and still dignified figure crouching frog-
like upon the ground and goading to a wilder exhibi-
tion of passion the maddened hound, which ramped
and raged in front of him, by all manner of ingenious
and calculated cruelty.

And then in a moment it happened ! It was not
the chain that broke, but it was the collar that
slipped, for it had been made for a thick-necked
N ewf oundland . W e heard the rattle of falling metal,
and the next instant dog and man were rolling on
the ground together, the one roaring in rage, the

228 CASE-BOOK OF SHERLOCK HOLMES

■*

other screaming in a strange shrill falsetto of terror.
It was a very narrow thing for the Professor's life.
The savage creature had him fairly by the throat,
its fangs had bitten deep, and he was senseless before
we could reach them and drag the two apart. It
might have been a dangerous task for us, but
Bennett’s voice and presence brought the great wolf-
hound instantly to reason. The uproar had brought
the sleepy and astonished coachman from his room
above the stables. " I’m not surprised," said he,
shaking his head. " I’ve seen him at it before. I
knew the dog would get him sooner or later."

The hound was secured, and together we carried
the Professor up to his room, where Bennett, who
had a medical degree, helped me to dress his torn
throat. The sharp teeth had passed dangerously
near the carotid artery, and the haemorrhage was
serious. In half an hour the danger was past, I
had given the patient an injection of morphia, and
he had sunk into deep sleep. Then, and only then,
were we able to look at each other and to take stock
of the situation.

" I think a first-class surgeon should see him,"
said I.

" For God’s sake, no 1 ” cried Bennett. ** At
present the scandal is confined to our own household.
It is safe with us. If it gets beyond these walls it
will never stop. Consider his position at the Uni-
versity, his European reputation, the feelings of
his daughter."

“ Quite so," said Holmes. “ I think it may be
quite possible to keep the matter to ourselves, and
also to prevent its recurrence now that we have 3

THE CREEPING MAN

329

free hand. The key from the watch-chain, Mr.
Bennett. Macphail will guard the patient and
let us know if there is any change. Let us see
what we can find in the Professor’s mysterious
box.”

There was not much, but there was enough — an
empty phial, another nearly full, a hypodermic
syringe, several letters in a crabbed, foreign hand.
The marks on the envelopes showed that they were
those which had disturbed the routine of the secre-
tary, and each was dated from the Commercial Road
and signed “ A. Dorak.” They were mere invoices
to say that a fresh bottle was being sent to Professor
Presbuiy, or receipts to acknowledge money. There
was one other envelope, however, in a more educated
hand and bearing the Austrian stamp with the post-
mark of Prague. ” Here we have our material 1 ”
cried Holmes, as he tore out the enclosure.

” Honoured Colleague," it ran. ” Since your
esteemed visit I have thought much of your case,
and though in your circumstances there are some
special reasons for the treatment, I would none the
less enjoin caution, as my results have shown that
it is not without danger of a kind.

" It is possible that the Serum of Anthropoid
would have been better. I have, as I explained to
you, used black-faced Langur because a specimen
was accessible. Langur is, of course, a crawler and
climber, while Anthropoid walks erect, and is in all
ways nearer.

“ I beg you to take every possible precaution that
there be no premature revelation of the process. I

ago CASE-BOOK OF SHERLOCK HOLMES

have one other client in England, and Dorak is my
agent for both.

" Weekly reports will oblige.

" Yours with high esteem,

** H. Lowenstein.”

Lowenstein 1 The name brought back to me the
memory of some snippet from a newspaper which
spoke of an obscure scientist who was striving in
some unknown way for the secret of rejuvenescence
and the elixir of life. Lowenstein of Prague I
Lowenstein with the wondrous strength-giving
serum, tabooed by the profession because he refused
to reveal its source. In a few words I said what
I remembered. Bennett had taken a manual of
Zoology from the shelves. ” ' Langur/ ” he read,
" ‘ the great black-faced monkey of the Himalayan
slopes, biggest and most human of climbing mon-
keys.’ Many details are added. Well, thanks to
you, Mr. Holmes, it is very clear that we have traced
the evil to its source.”

" The real source,” said Holmes, " lies, of course,
in that untimely love affair which gave our impet-
uous Professor the idea that he could only gain his
wish by turning himself into a younger man. When
one tries to rise above Nature one is liable to fall
below it. The highest type of man may revert to
the animal if he leaves the straight road of destiny.”
He sat musing for a little with the phial in his hand,
looking at the clear liquid within. ” When I have
written to this man and told him that I 'hold him
criminally responsible for the poisons which he
circulates, we will have no more trouble. But it

THE CREEPING MAN 231

may recur. Others may find a better way. There
is danger there — a very real danger to humanity.
Consider, Watson, that the material, the sensual,
the worldly would all prolong their worthless lives.
The spiritual would not avoid the call to something
higher. It would be the survival of the least fit.
What sort of cesspool may not our poor world
become ? ” Suddenly the dreamer disappeared, and
Holmes, the man of action, sprang from his chair.
“ I think there is nothing more to be said, Mr.
Bennett. The various incidents will now fit them-
selves easily into the general scheme. The dog, of
course, was aware of the change far more quickly
than you. His smell would ensure that. It was
the monkey, not the Professor, whom Roy attacked,
just as it was the monkey who teased Roy. Climb-
ing was a joy to the creature, and it was a mere
chance, I take it, that the pastime brought him to
the young lady’s window. There is an early train
to town, Watson, but I think we shall just have
time for a cup of tea at the ‘ Chequers ’ beiore we
catch it."